Life cycle assessments

Why are life cycle assessments important and powerful tools?

With pressure increasing from all sides for companies to improve sustainability, every decision around environmental issues matters. How do you know if your packaging choices will make your fresh grocery supply chain sustainable?

Julia Boulter, Senior Manager, ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) at IFCO, recommends adopting life cycle thinking. "By thinking in terms of the whole life cycle – from cradle to grave – you get a much clearer picture of the environmental impact of your packaging choices. And the most detailed and comprehensive form of life cycle thinking is a life cycle assessment."

Beverly Sauer agrees with that statement. A chemical engineer and Senior LCA Project Manager at Franklin Associates, an internationally recognized pioneer of life cycle impact studies and a division of Eastern Research Group (ERG), Sauer has over 30 years of experience in the field of life cycle analysis. A respected member of the LCA team, Sauer is an expert at identifying, compiling and evaluating the individual contributors that determine the environmental performance of products and services.

"Thanks to their comprehensive nature, life cycle assessments help businesses better understand how and why their choices matter in terms of their environmental profile," Sauer says.

The value of accurate LCAs

A standalone LCA is therefore a powerful tool for identifying the main contributors to environmental impacts of a product or service. A comprehensive study performed by independent organizations that follow international standards, such as ISO 14040 and ISO 14044, will pinpoint target areas and relevant levers for reducing their overall environmental impact.

Another renowned organization in this field is the Department Life Cycle Engineering at the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP (Fraunhofer IBP). The department has been actively involved in the development, realization and testing of life cycle assessments for 35 years, both in research and development and with and for industrial companies. Together with IFCO and Stiftung Initiative Mehrweg (SIM), Fraunhofer IBP has performed several life cycle assessment and carbon footprint studies of fruit and vegetable transport systems in recent years.

Dr. Stefan Albrecht, the Group Manager Materials and Product Systems, and Mathias Fischer, the Head of Department Life Cycle Engineering, can draw on their extensive experience to provide more details on the value of LCAs.

"Our LCAs allow the environmental impact of products to be quantified over their life cycle using reliable and recognized engineering methods," Albrecht says. "The results form the basis for targeted and effective optimization towards more environmentally friendly systems. Only when the findings of our research are applied in companies can they make an effective contribution to climate and environmental protection."

Fischer emphasizes that the LCAs performed by Fraunhofer IBP can make it easier for companies to address sustainability. "The comprehensible, transparent and reliable life cycle assessments can contribute to science-based quantitative decision-making."

In such cases, LCAs help businesses explore what decisions, innovations or changes to processes will have the greatest impact on the sustainability of their operations.

LCAs support decarbonization of the supply chain

"The LCAs help us to identify the hotspots in our circular business model so that we can continue to improve our model further and increase the environmental benefits that we already deliver for our customers," adds Canalejo. "While the studies confirm that the IFCO circular business model is inherently sustainable, we are committed to achieving even more."

For IFCO, LCAs have led to a greater understanding of the measures that have the biggest impact on environmental savings. "For example, addressing the impacts associated with producing RPCs, the more times our RPCs are used, the more value everyone gets out of the resources that have gone into producing our reusable containers," explains Canalejo.

"This is why we develop robust, durable packaging solutions that withstand temperature fluctuations and harsh conditions during transportation, ensuring product freshness and extending shelf life," continues Canalejo. "Or why we have increased the proportion of recycled content in our new containers and ensure that our RPCs are 100% recycled in our SmartCycle at the end of life."

It’s also why IFCO packaging solutions are folded when empty, taking up less space so fewer reverse logistics journeys are necessary; and why IFCO service centers are strategically located to reduce the distance travelled. "We are also collaborating with our retail and grower partners to cut redundant transportation legs," concludes Canalejo. "Combined, all these improvements are key to making the fresh grocery supply chain more efficient and sustainable."

Why perform a comparative life cycle assessment?

A comparative life cycle assessment goes even deeper than a standalone LCA, which offers additional benefits. "A comparative cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment brings transparency to the decision-making process," notes Sauer. "It uses qualitative information about a product or service to develop models that assess impacts along the entire life cycle of the product system, and then provides a set of quantitative metrics that can be used to make a proper comparison between different options on the basis of providing equivalent functionality."

A comparative study makes sense if you want to compare your options, for instance plastic vs glass bottles, cotton vs polyester fabrics or concrete vs steel constructions. In the context of packaging, this kind of LCA allows science-backed, evidence-based comparisons between alternative packaging solutions.

"Comparative LCAs provide a useful service for us and for our customers," adds Boulter. "They provide reliable data about the energy and water consumption during the production and use of a product or service, as well as the waste produced along the way. You can really look at the environmental benefits and burdens of one option compared to another."

There are other important aspects to LCAs, continues Canalejo. "A comparative LCA allows us to scientifically answer the main question our customers ask us: which type of packaging is better for the environment, single-use recyclable cardboard or reusable packaging containers. What’s more, through comparative life cycle assessments, we demonstrate our environmental consciousness and active commitment to a culture of continual improvement."

Why perform comparative LCAs using ISO 14040 and ISO 14044?

It’s hard to overstate the value of a comparative life cycle assessment. Any comparative LCA that follows ISO 14040/ISO 14044 standards must be peer reviewed by a panel of experts if the results are published externally. This guarantees credibility. Any conclusive statements in the LCA must also be fair and unbiased, and clearly supported by the data.

"A comparative LCA — such as the – based on a life cycle analysis" – makes it possible to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the respective systems in fulfilling the functions and to compare such systems and similar boundary conditions," adds Fischer. "They therefore form the basis for environmentally friendly packaging system design and selection of the most suitable packaging system."

Comparative LCAs are therefore undoubtedly incredibly useful, but they are also more complex for businesses to carry out. "In our view, it is worth the time, energy and specialist manpower that we invest in these studies," says Canalejo. "And we speak from two decades of experience." The first IFCO LCA was carried out in 2004.

LCAs promote a circular economy approach to packaging

The importance of LCAs in general was recently highlighted in a report issued by the United Nations Environment Program and conducted by the Life Cycle Initiative. Titled Addressing Single-use plastic products pollution, using a life cycle approach, the paper offers a comprehensive LCA meta-analyses on single-use products and their alternatives, including packaging solutions.

A key finding is that "single use" is more problematic for the environment and that reusable packaging solutions should be prioritized wherever possible. Taking a circular economy approach would keep resources at their highest value for as long as possible, the report concludes.

What LCAs cannot measure: food waste and food safety

Despite the many insights that LCAs provide, there are areas that these studies cannot measure, including food safety and food waste (although some LCAs can measure the impacts associated with food waste). As part of our ongoing research and development activities, IFCO has commissioned third-party studies around both topics.

What the evidence shows about reusable packaging containers

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of vague language around "climate-neutral" or supposedly "climate-positive" solutions. To combat greenwashing, legislation on the usage of such language is getting stricter, including in the European Union where such misleading terms are set to be banned by 2026 unless they are accompanied by substantial evidence.

LCAs and other third-party studies provide the necessary body of scientific evidence. Increasingly, IFCO customers are choosing to publish the IFCO Sustainability Certificate as it is viewed as a trustworthy endorsement of their commitment to reducing their environmental footprint.

"At IFCO, we are proud to be one of the pioneers in life cycle thinking," concludes Boulter. "And we’re proud to be making it easier for our customers to think in life cycles and make science-backed comparisons across alternative packaging options."

Finally, Canalejo sums up the company’s multitiered approach to making the fresh grocery supply chain sustainable. "Life cycle assessments, third-party food safety research and food waste studies enable evidence-based decision-making, which is what we need to move the fresh grocery supply chain toward a net zero future within the necessary tight timescale."