A life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the measurement of number of key environmental indicators. The most well know of these indicators is the Global Warming Potential (or carbon footprint) but, there are many others.
We conducted a ‘cradle to gate’ LCA in 2009 and the results from this were used primarily to understand where we stood in relation to the various LCA parameters and enabled us to look at process improvements to maximise the potential environmental benefits. A second LCA was conducted in 2017 to understand our progress against the original 2009 LCA.
The graph below shows the improvements that were achieved for our coated Labels and coated Packaging products in 2017 from 2009.
In 2020, we developed our own internal LCA methodology using known Industry databases. This allows us to evaluate the impacts of products based on certified contents of renewable and recycled materials but also the standard products we produce.
The methodology evaluates and assesses the impacts of both the materials used and the manufacturing process to ultimately end up with a cradle to gate analysis.