Packaging Solutions Green Solutions
Eco Flexibles has shared details of a detailed lifecycle assessment conducted by packaging sustainability specialist, Ecoveritas. The audit found that its monopolymer film solution, EcoFlow, has an environmental footprint 35% lower than standard mixed plastic and paper equivalents when used in typical flexible packaging applications.
The analysis is a comprehensive service available from Ecoveritas, which measures key metrics through the full lifetime of packaging, including raw materials, transportation, assembly, distribution, and disposal.
Using a customer’s sausage packaging for the project, Eco Flexibles redesigned the pack to utilise EcoFlow, which offers brands a more sustainable lightweight monopolymer alternative to traditional flexible packaging substrates. The result found EcoFlow to be significantly more eco friendly, in terms of the carbon footprint, than typical paper, PET and PE structures. The review process, which tracked the environmental footprint through a measurement of CO2e per pack, found that at each stage of the product’s lifecycle, EcoFlow provided improvements ranging from 28% to 57%, under the study assumptions.
Simon Buswell, director at Eco Flexibles, commented: ‘We are proud to work with the talented team at Ecoveritas and share more data surrounding our innovative packaging range. Ecoveritas is a business that mirrors our own in a lot of ways. It has a strong commitment to improving the long term sustainable future of packaging, as well as a desire to make the often complex arena of sustainable packaging simpler.’
The Ecoveritas assessment, a valuable deep dive that all brands and retailers can do for their packaging lines, highlights the key strengths of the packaging. The largest CO2e advantage was seen in raw material use, principally due to the pack’s lower overall weight compared with the previous film used and less losses in manufacturing.
‘The message for brands is extremely clear. Our unique perspective on packaging sustainability isn’t just lip service. We are committed to truly validating our solutions from a sustainability perspective and ensuring they bring real time – and measurable – benefits for the supply chain,’ he added.
Kathy Illingworth, head of sustainability consulting at Ecoveritas, added: ‘Our project with Eco Flexibles is a great example of the value that a data and insight specialist can offer. We use a combination of source specific data, in-depth industry knowledge for benchmarking standards and environmental factors sourced from ecoinvent LCI datasets. The end result provides real comparative and measurable data to back up exactly what Eco Flexibles says when talking about the extensive benefits of its sustainable packaging solutions.
‘Our lifecycle analysis service is available to brands and retailers of every size, no matter how complex the supply chain. Our team believes that sustainability doesn’t need to be a complex and convoluted process – it can be made simple with a data oriented approach. Our team is standing by to support businesses of every size with sustainability compliance with the aim of creating a more robust and future ready supply chain.’
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