EBM

Eminence Business Media

Saturday, November 29, 2014

The Quick and Easy Way to Sustainable Packaging

EasyLCA – Easy Life Cycle Analysis – is the name given to a new software developed by Henkel experts in order to make product packaging even more sustainable. Henkel is pursuing a long-term sustainability strategy through to 2030 aimed at making its operations three times more efficient. To achieve this ambitious target, the company is working on improvements along its entire value chain – from raw material procurement through production and on to disposal. The new EasyLCA tool is able to make a significant contribution to this process right at the development stage – by enabling comparison between different packaging types and analyzing their environmental impact during the individual phases of the product’s life cycle. The assessment takes in every phase and activity incorporated in the value chain – purchase and transport of the input materials, the manufacturing stage, packaging, outbound logistics, industrial usage or retail sale and consumption, and end-of-life disposal.

Henkel experts from different departments developed the EasyLCA-Tool.
The principle is quite simple: Various product packaging options are fed into the system and their properties – e.g. material or packaging thickness – are varied. The software then calculates the ensuing effect on the carbon footprint of the product and identifies the most sustainable option. Previously, these calculations would have been very time-consuming. Now the tool supplies the results in a matter of minutes. “EasyLCA is a fast and simple way of making sustainability analyses available for packaging development. As one of just a handful of companies, Henkel is thus making rapid progress toward the integration of life cycle analyses within the innovation process, enabling us to drive resource efficiency early on in the product development phase,” says Dr. Nikolaj Otte, a co-developer of the EasyLCA tool.


For more information on Henkel’s sustainable packaging solutions, visit: http://sustainabilityreport.henkel.com/sustainability-stewardship/packaging/