Greener packaging solutions with LCA

Greener packaging solutions with LCA

MAY 2021

 

Packaging sustainability can be a complex topic to tackle with businesses often caught in the middle of expert advice, stakeholder feedback, and increasing consumer concern regarding plastic pollution and climate change. When choosing packaging options for their courier bags, New Zealand Post used the science-based Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to help make the most sustainable choice. The study also enabled  their stakeholders and customers to understand the decision to choose a NZ made courier bag with 80 percent recycled plastic over compostable and paper packaging options.

In this webinar recording, Ronald Liew, Product Manager at New Zealand Post, shares the motivations for carrying out a comparative LCA, the main findings from the study, and what they mean for the company. Jeff Vickers, Technical Director of thinkstep-anz, delves into the LCA results, the benefits of a lifecycle perspective, and the sustainability trade-offs to consider when making packaging decisions. 

A sneak preview of the webinar. The full webinar recording can be downloaded below.

The LCA looked at a wide range of factors for each courier bag option including

  • the courier bag itself
  • the packaging (bags and boxes) the bags come in
  • the pallets taking the bags to the stores they would be sold and distributed
  • a total of 14 environmental indicators including climate change (global warming potential/carbon footprint), material circularity (ability of the product to contribute to the circular economy), and toxicity (a concern for New Zealand Post’s customers)
  • entire lifecycle of the product from cradle to grave or Cradle to Cradle

Key takeaways from webinar

  • A comparative LCA study follows a rigorous process — New Zealand Post’s study followed the international standards ISO 14044 and ISO 14067, and was reviewed by a panel of three experts.
  • The LCA study found that the paper courier bag options were more circular but recycled plastic performed better across the remaining 13 other indicators.
  • In the context of climate change, the locally recycled plastic bag has less than half of the impact of the original bag, whereas the compostable option had a higher impact than the original bag.
  • Supply chains play a significant role in the results of such studies. The findings of this study are based on New Zealand Post’s specific supply chain and different supply chains comparing the same materials may result in different outcomes. 

The full webinar recording can be downloaded below.

Additional resources

Keen to know more? Check out our New Zealand Post report, In a nutshell summary, and our list of LCA resources to get started.

Leading with good data

Jeff Vickers 23

thinkstep-anz's Technical Director Jeff Vickers has wide expertise in assessing complex product life cycles ranging from buildings to agriculture, transport to electronics. He focuses on sustainability strategy, Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and is our in-house packaging expert. Jeff has been embedding sustainability thinking within organisations for over a decade, and has been working across sustainability assessment, strategy and innovation.