PE Coated Beverage

Carbon Footprint: 27.27

grams CO2 equivalent

per PE Coated Beverage Carton

PE Coated Beverage Carton http://www.elopak.com

Elopak Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) Beverage

Programme Related Information

Name of Programme: The International EPD® System (IES) Programme Operator: The Swedish Environmental Management Council

Declaration Holder: Elopak AS P.O. 418 Skøyen, 0213 Oslo, Norway

LCA Practitioner/ Issuer: Atkins Ltd, Woodcote Grove, Ashley Road, Epsom, KT18 5BW, UK

Standard: PCR UN CPC 32153 Beverage Cartons; Version 1.0; 2011-05-23

Type: Cradle-to-gate *

Declared Product Unit: 1 printed beverage carton blank (1 litre)

As there is no declared RSL in the PCR, the data for the core module shall Reference Service Life (RSL): be representative of the time frame for which the EPD is valid.

Geographical Scope: Elopak’s European Operations

Date of Issue: 18/12/2013

Valid Until: 18/12/2016

Registration Number: SP-00515

The cut off point for this project is the entry gate of the beverage filling Disclaimer: factory; this means the environmental impacts associated with the operations inside the filling factory are not included in this study.

Reference period/year of Elopak manufacturing data; three year average (2010-2012). validity for data: * As per the PCR, Cradle-to-gate means ‘cradle-to-beverage-carton-producer-gate’

“EPDs from different programmes may not be comparable. In addition, product specific and market specific information must be comparable in order to allow for a fair comparison of EPD results. Any overall comparison of packaging solutions shall consider all relevant aspects of the packaging life cycle including interaction with the contained product life cycle. EPDs for chilled and ambient beverage carton systems are non-comparable, even when based on this PCR, since refrigeration during storage and distribution is excluded from the scope of the EPD.”

THIS DOCUMENT IS IN COMPLIANCE WITH GENERAL PROGRAMME INSTRUCTIONS; VERSION 2.1 DATED JUNE 2013, PUBLISHED BY THE IES AS A PART OF THE INTERNATIONAL EPD® SYSTEM. FURTHER INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ON WWW.ENVIRONDEC.COM

PE Coated Beverage Carton http://www.elopak.com

Product Related Information

Manufacturing Company

Elopak is one of the world’s leading suppliers of packaging systems for non carbonated liquid food products. Elopak HQ is based in Norway and majority owned by the Ferd Group (one of Norway’s largest privately owned industrial and investment groups). The company employs 3,000 employees and has sales of €940 million (2012 figures); Elopak produces around 13 billion cartons globally, through 15 manufacturing plants and a global network of sales and service personnel.

Elopak is well known as a supplier of gable top cartons through its Pure-Pak® system, which is associated with many premium beverage and retail brands and also for its filling machines for the fresh and aseptic segments. Figure 1 - Elopak's Services Elopak continually develop their packaging solutions to match the changing global demands for packaged foods and constantly develop their packaging to meet the world’s requirements for packaged foodstuffs. Environmental issues are a central part of the company’s strategy and a natural focus of its business culture.

Figure 1 - Elopak's Services Elopak’s European Operation Boundary

Figure 2 highlights the geographical area that is included within Elopak’s European Operations; this includes the coaters and that are within the boundary of this EPD. Final transport to customer is however on a global scale and therefore not restricted to the European boundary.

Figure 2 – Elopak’s European Operations

PE Coated Beverage Carton http://www.elopak.com

Definition of Product Group & Chosen Functional Unit

The PCR applies to beverage carton packaging systems for food or liquid food. Beverage cartons are packaging made of polymer-coated liquid packaging containers.

The functional unit calculated from cradle to gate data from the upstream and core processes shall be one product unit from the core process i.e. one beverage carton.

For this particular EPD the functional unit is ‘one PE coated carton with a size of 1 litre’.

Figure 3 - Functional Unit

Packaging Performance Parameters

The PE coated carton is used for fresh products with a short in chilled distribution; for example fresh . The used in this product is a light and strong coated cartonboard made out of 100% virgin fibres (coated on the top side). It has high compression strength, bending stiffness and moisture resistance, and meets all purity and hygiene requirements. It does not transfer any smell or taste to its contents. The surface is smooth and fine, reproducing demanding print images with appealing results. The beverage carton size analysed in this EPD is 1 litre. To prevent leakage a PE () liquid barrier is used as a , both inside and outside of the carton and provides an average shelf life of 11 days for the filled consumer ready product.

Table 1: Material Composition % Carton Layers Weight (g) breakdown PE 1.02 3.66 Board 23.8 85.43 PE 2.03 7.29 Ink 0.011 0.04 PE Coated carton Cardboard 1.0 3.59 (Packaging) LDPE Wrap 1.7E-07 <0.01 (Packaging) Total 27.86 100

PE Coated Beverage Carton http://www.elopak.com

System Boundary

Figure 4 shows Elopak’s Operation Boundary and figure 5 shows their total value chain. Assuming a cradle to gate boundary; this EPD has quantified stages 1-3, including the delivery to the customer (i.e. to the gate of the filling factory).

Figure 4 - Elopak Operation Boundary

Figure 5 - Elopak's Value Chain Inclusions Figure 4 shows the full system boundary as described in the PCR. The upstream stage includes raw material supply and transport, the core stage includes manufacturing (coating and converting) of the paperboard and transport between these two stages and the downstream process includes transport to the filling factory only.

Cut-offs The PCR states that any material which accounts for less than 1% of the functional unit, by weight, does not need to be reported in the EPD. The wrap used for packaging the blanks is made of low density polyethylene, this material is less than 0.001% of the final weight, however LCI data has been included for this material as it is made of the same type of low density used to coat the blank (PE). Ink accounted for less than 1% of the functional unit by weight; however it has been included in the study because ink is known to have a high environmental impact.

PE Coated Beverage Carton http://www.elopak.com

Out of scope

Figure 6 - System Boundary (PCR 2011:04)

Life Cycle Scenarios and Assumptions

Upstream (Raw Materials & Transport to Factory)

The upstream process includes the raw materials supply; one of the key raw materials used in this product is paperboard of which Elopak has two main suppliers. Elopak only purchase paperboard which contains fibre sourced from acceptably managed forests; either from forests certified according to the FSC “Forest Stewardship Council” standard or FSC controlled wood sources. Both suppliers have provided specific LCA information on the paperboard’s GWP and this has been used in this study. The LCI data for other environmental impacts that are included in this study have been sourced from The Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment’s (ACE) study into Liquid Packaging Board (2011).

The other raw materials used in this beverage carton are PE and Ink. LCI data for PE was obtained from Europe. The environmental impact data for ink was sourced from EcoInvent; ink product ‘1 kg Toner, colour, used for printing/RER’.

The transport of these raw materials from each supplier to the coating factory is also included in the upstream processes; Google Maps was used to determine distance travelled, assuming the fastest route. The logistics manager at Elopak provided the information regarding the modes of transport used to transport the raw materials to the two coating factories; these included European lorries, semi trailers, LoLo cargo ships and European rail transport (average European). A single weighted figure was calculated to represent the environmental impacts for all transport routes for each raw material. This was calculated taking into account the percentage split of raw material to each coater, the actual weights transported and distances travelled.

PE Coated Beverage Carton http://www.elopak.com

Core (Manufacturing of blanks)

The core process is the manufacturing (coating and converting) of the blanks. This involves coating the paperboard with different barriers relevant to the final use of the product to prevent exchange between the filled products and the environment (for example liquid barriers or liquid and oxygen barriers). This takes place at Elopak’s two coating factories. The energy used in this stage of the manufacturing process was allocated to a single blank by dividing the total factory output in number of blanks by the total energy consumption for each coating factory. The percentage split of output in blanks was then used to calculate a weighted average of the total energy consumed per blank. The figure calculated is a general figure for all types of blanks assuming an average weight of 0.029kg per blank. A check between the differences in allocation to different types of board found the differences to be negligible; therefore a weighted average has been used.

The converting stage is where the reels of coated paperboard are sent to Elopak’s converting plants. The paperboard is then cut, printed and creased. Figure 7 outlines the different stages in converting the reels of coated paperboard into the out feed which is the blanks.

Elopak has five converting plants within the defined European boundary (Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands, Ukraine and Serbia). The transport distances between the two coating factories and the five converting factories was calculated using the fastest route on Google Maps, in this stage there was also transport straight from suppliers to converting factories as they also supply pre- coated board. The environmental impacts were calculated for each transport route and to obtain a single figure for each impact category that would be representative of all the transport routes and the loads transported. A bespoke transport model was developed using mass balance principles. The output of this was environmental impact data that is representative of the whole logistics scenario.

To allocate energy and other resource data to a single blank a weighted average was again calculated using the percentage split of total output from each converter. This could then be allocated to a specific type of blank because data was available on the number of each type of blank converted at each factory. After the reels of coated board are converted they will be in the form of paper blanks, which reflects the functional unit of this EPD; this is the boundary of the core process. The final mode of transport was supplied by Elopak’s logistics manager including; Euro 3 and 4 trucks, lorries with semi trailers, along with LoLo average cargo ships, ferries for lorries, vessels and European rail transport.

PE Coated Beverage Carton http://www.elopak.com

Figure 7 - Elopak's Converting Operation

Downstream (Transport to Filling Factory)

Beyond Elopak’s factory ‘gate’ the blanks are transported to their customer’s filling factories; this transport stage is included in the downstream stage of the study and is also the cut off point. The weight of packaging material associated with the transport of the final blanks was taken into account.

To calculate the environmental impacts associated with one coated beverage carton blank a weighted average of the final transport was calculated, this again was based on a percentage split of the production of blanks. The transport model used to calculate this contained a vast quantity of data on Elopak’s final customers (the filling factories). For customers overseas, a port to port online calculator was used. The same transport factors as per the previous life cycle stages were used.

As this is a cradle to gate assessment, with the inclusion of transport to customer, it is at this point that system boundary is reached.

PE Coated Beverage Carton http://www.elopak.com

LCA Results

Table 2: Elopak - Resource Use per Functional Unit Resource Use Unit Upstream Core Downstream Total Non – Renewable Resources Electricity MJ 0.02 0 0.02 1.2 Gas MJ 0.01 0 0.01 Renewable Resources

Renewable Energy MJ 0 2.15E-03 0 2.15E-03 Water M3 1.22E-03 3.86E-06 0 3.86E-06 Material Resources

Paperboard Kg 2.38E-02 0 0 2.38E-02 PE Kg 3.06E-03 0 0 3.06E-03 Cardboard Kg 1.00E-03 0 0 1.00E-03 Waste

Hazardous Waste Kg 0 3.74E-06 0 3.74E-06 Non – Hazardous Waste Kg 0 3.27E-07 0 3.27E-07 Materials for Kg 0 3.52E-06 0 3.52E-06

PE Coated Beverage Carton: GWP (gr CO2e) from Forest to Customer Gate 30.00 30.00

25.00 1.07 25.00 1.21 0.56 2.81 20.00 1.24 20.00 4.56

15.00 15.00 0.90 4.70 2.60E-05 10.00 10.00 10.22

5.00 5.00

10.22 14.92 14.92 15.82 20.39 21.63 24.44 25.65 26.21 27.27 - -

Figure 8 - PE Cumulative GHG Emissions

PE Coated Beverage Carton http://www.elopak.com

Table 3: Potential Environmental Impacts

gr CO2 per blanks Upstream (Suppliers) Core (Elopak) Downstream Environmental Wrap Box Trsp Trsp Trsp Total Paperboard PE Ink Total Electricity Gas Total Indicator Unit (PE) (Blanks) Coater int Customer Global Warming

Potential (GWP [gr CO2-eqv.] 10.22 4.70 2.60E-05 0.90 4.56 1.24 21.63 2.81 1.21 0.56 4.57 1.07 27.27 100 years) Ozone Depletion [gr CFC11- 9.1E-08 5.5E-08 3.1E-13 8.3E-08 2.4E-07 5.7E-11 4.72E-07 7.1E-08 7.3E-11 4.9E-10 7.1E-08 1.1E-08 5.5E-07 Potential (ODP) eqv.] Acidification [gr SO -eqv.] 3.9E-02 2.2E-02 1.2E-07 1.0E-03 2.6E-03 1.3E-04 6.41E-02 8.5E-03 1.7E-03 3.0E-03 1.3E-02 2.2E-03 8.0E-02 Potential (AP) 2 Eutrophication [gr PO 3- - 4 9.0E-04 5.2E-07 2.9E-12 5.5E-03 1.8E-02 2.9E-05 2.42E-02 2.8E-03 1.2E-05 4.0E-04 3.2E-03 1.8E-03 2.9E-02 Potential (EP) eqv] Photochemical

Ozone Creation [gr C2H2-eqv.] 3.3E-03 3.2E-03 1.8E-08 1.2E-03 2.4E-03 9.0E-06 1.01E-02 3.4E-04 9.7E-05 1.6E-04 6.0E-04 2.4E-04 1.1E-02 Potential (POCP)

*Due to rounding in excel, the total displayed in the final column may not represent a decimal accurate sum of upstream, core and downstream results. Please request detailed LCA results for full decimal accuracy.

PE Coated Beverage Carton http://www.elopak.com

References

1. ISO14025 Environmental and declarations – Type III Environmental declarations – Principles and procedures. (2006) 2. Product Specification Criteria for Paper Beverage Cartons, UN CPC 32153. The International EPD System. (2011) 3. LCI Data for Liquid Packaging Board (LPB) Production IFEU – Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. The Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (2011) 4. Defra’s Greenhouse Gas Conversion Factors Spreadsheet. Defra and Decc. (2012) 5. ‘Plastics Europe’ Association of Plastic Manufacturers http://www.plasticseurope.co.uk/ 6. General Programme Instructions for the International EPD system

Information about Elopak (EPD Holder)

For more information please contact Dagfinn at [email protected]

Information about Atkins (LCA Practitioner)

For more information please contact Atkins at [email protected]

Information about Renuables (Verifier)

For more information please contact Dr Andrew Norton at [email protected]

Supplementary Information

This declaration has been compiled on the basis of the Product Category Rules (PCR) for the product category “Beverage Cartons”. This declaration satisfies the requirements laid down according to the relevant PCR.

PE Coated Beverage Carton http://www.elopak.com