LCA of a Paper self-adhesive Label FINAT & TLMI Case Study Date: 13 May 2016 Version: 2.0 Commissioned by: Mark Macaré, FINAT Ingrid Brase, TLMI Calvin Frost FINAT & TLMI Prepared by: PRé Consultants bv Main authors: Anne Gaasbeek Marisa Vieira Jori Coustillas 1 PRé Consultants bv This report has been prepared by PRé Consultants bv. PRé Consultants puts the metrics behind sustainability, and provides decision makers with the tools, knowledge and network to make products and services more sustainable. For more than twenty years PRé Consultants has been at the forefront of Life Cycle thinking and has built on its knowledge and experience in sustainability metrics and impact assessments to provide state of the art methods, consultancy and software tools. Internationally, leading organizations work with PRé Consultants to integrate sustainability into their product development procedures in order to create business growth and business value. PRé Consultants has offices in the United States and the Netherlands plus a global partner network to support large international or multi-client projects. This report has been prepared by the Dutch office of PRé Consultants. Please direct all questions regarding this report to PRé Consultants bv. PRé Consultants bv Stationsplein 121 3818 LE Amersfoort The Netherlands www.pre-sustainability.com i PRé Consultants bv List of Abbreviations Abbreviation Climate change CC Ozone depletion OD Terrestrial acidification TA Freshwater eutrophication FE Marine eutrophication ME Human toxicity HTox Photochemical oxidant formation POF Particulate matter formation PMF Terrestrial ecotoxicity TTox Freshwater ecotoxicity FTox Marine ecotoxicity MTox Ionising radiation IR Agricultural land occupation ALO Urban land occupation ULO Natural land transformation NLT Water depletion WD Metal depletion MD Fossil depletion FD ii PRé Consultants bv Table of Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................... 1 2 Goal ........................................................................................... 1 3 Scope ......................................................................................... 1 3.1 PRODUCT .............................................................................................................. 1 3.2 FUNCTIONAL UNIT ................................................................................................... 1 3.3 SYSTEM BOUNDARIES............................................................................................... 2 3.4 CUT-OFF CRITERIA ................................................................................................... 2 3.5 IMPACT ASSESSMENT METHOD .................................................................................. 2 4 Modelling ................................................................................... 3 4.1 ASSUMPTIONS ........................................................................................................ 3 4.2 DATA COLLECTION & MODELLING ............................................................................... 4 5 Results ....................................................................................... 5 5.1 RECYCLING AND REDUCTION OF MATRIX AND LINER WASTE .............................................. 6 5.2 CONTRIBUTION ANALYSIS PER LIFE CYCLE STAGE ............................................................ 7 6 Sensitivity analysis ..................................................................... 9 6.1 PAPER TYPE FOR FACE MATERIAL ................................................................................ 9 6.2 PAPER TYPE FOR LINER MATERIAL ............................................................................... 9 6.3 ENERGY USE AT APPLICATION .................................................................................... 9 6.4 END OF LIFE DESTINATION FOR LINER WASTE .............................................................. 10 6.5 LIMITATIONS ........................................................................................................ 10 6.5.1 Printing ink ............................................................................................. 10 6.5.2 Transports after application at brand owner ........................................ 10 7 Conclusions & Recommendations ............................................ 11 7.1 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE HARMONIZED SECTOR APPROACH .................................... 12 7.1.1 Used End of Life Approach ..................................................................... 12 7.1.2 Functional unit ....................................................................................... 12 7.1.3 Data collection and data sources ........................................................... 13 iii PRé Consultants bv Disclaimer This report cannot be used for product or material comparisons. The goal of this report is to serve as input for the harmonized sector approach for labelling industry and is not suited to gain insight in product or material performance. Separately conducted LCA studies of products or services can never be compared, as there is no assurance that studies have been conducted similarly. Only LCAs which have been set-up as comparative LCAs can be used for performance comparison. This report is based on data from the case study participant and general information from literature and databases. Application of the information is strictly at the discretion and the responsibility of the reader. PRé Consultants, FINAT and TMLI are not liable for any loss or damage arising from the use of the information in this document. 1 Introduction The world-wide association for manufacturers of self-adhesive labels and related products and services (FINAT) and the premier association for the label and package printing industry (TLMI) want to provide their members with an LCA guidance document for the industry in order to ensure one harmonised approach for conducting LCA studies on self-adhesive label products. As part of this work two case studies have been conducted namely a LCA of a polypropylene self-adhesive label and a LCA of a Paper self-adhesive Label. The outcomes from the case studies have been used as input to develop this harmonized LCA approach for labelling products. This current report describes a case study LCA of a paper self-adhesive label. This LCA will provide a good insight into the appropriate scope and system boundaries to be considered, an identification of the relevant life cycle stages, processes and impact categories, and an awareness of the implications of choices and limitations. 2 Goal In close collaboration with the label material manufacturer and printer-converter, an LCA case study was performed on the production of a paper self-adhesive labels for a plastic bottle. The goal was to determine the environmental impact of a paper self-adhesive labels and to identify the environmental hotspots in the life cycle. Additionally, the insights of this case study are used for the development of a harmonized approach for the labeling sector. On basis of this study a one-pager showing with the most relevant insights has been created. This one-pager may be used for external communication. 3 Scope 3.1 Product The product under study is a self-adhesive paper label for a PET bottle. The label is made of a wood free face material, with a clear permanent acrylic adhesive on a paper uncoated liner. The label is die-cut and stripped at high speeds on standard web-fed presses with either flatbed or rotary dies. The labels are flexo-printed using UV printing inks and a direct or rotary relief printing process with elastic, raised print forms or plates which are attached to a plate cylinder. 3.2 Functional unit The functional unit describes qualitatively and quantitatively the function(s) or the service(s) provided by the product analysed. The functional unit is used to define what the LCA is measuring, and provides a reference to which the inputs and outputs can be related. In this case, the functional 1 PRé Consultants bv unit of the product under study was defined as 1m2 of ready-made label, applied at the brand owner. 3.3 System boundaries The scope of the study is cradle to grave. This means that all activities throughout the life cycle of each panel will be included in the assessment, that is: the production stage, use (i.e. application onto the bottle), and waste processing for recycling and disposal. A simplified flow chart of the life cycle is shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. A simplified flow chart of the life cycle of the printed label. 3.4 Cut-off criteria All processes were included in the LCA, so no cut-off criteria were used. The only distinction is that specific data is used for foreground processes and generic data is used for background processes. 3.5 Impact assessment method The Impact Assessment Method (IAM) is used is the ReCiPe1 Endpoint (H) method (H stands for a Hierarchist perspective, which is the default version). ReCiPe proposes a feasible implementation of a combined midpoint categories (expressed in units of a reference substance) and damage approach, linking all types of LCI results (elementary flows and other interventions) via midpoint categories to four damage categories: human health, ecosystem quality, climate change, and resources. Normalization can be performed either at midpoint or at damage level. Midpoints are used for a more specific and detailed analysis, whereas damage endpoints are useful to communicate the results