http://finepack.com.au/

1. Life Cycle Assessment: Laying the
Foundation for a Transparent Supply Chain
Shopping Bag Case Study
http://finepack.com.au/
September 26, 2013
Dr. Anahita Williamson
Director
Kate Winnebeck
LCACP, Senior EHS Specialist
New York State Pollution Prevention Institute at RIT

2. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a technique used to quantify the
environmental impact of a product from raw material acquisition through
end of life disposition (cradle-to-grave)
Life Cycle Assessment
Remanufacture
Recycle
Reuse
Waste Treatment

3. LCA Methodology
• A Life Cycle Assessment is carried out in four distinct
phases: (ISO 14040, 14044)
– Step 1: Goal definition and scoping. Identify the LCA's purpose, the
products of the study, and determine the boundaries. (what is and
is not included in the study)
– Step 2: Life-cycle inventory. Quantify the energy and raw material
inputs and environmental releases associated with each life cycle
phase.
– Step 3: Impact analysis. Assess the impacts on human health and
the environment.
– Step 4: Report results. Evaluate opportunities to reduce energy,
material inputs, or environmental impacts at each stage of the
product life-cycle.

4. Step 1: Goal Definition and Scoping
Define the goal:
– Intended application of the study
– Intended audience
Define the scope:
– Identify the product system to be studied
– Define the functional unit
– Define the boundaries of the product system
– Identify assumptions and limitations of the study
– Select impact categories to be included

5. Today’s Example
• You own a grocery store and customers are starting to
request that you sell reusable shopping bags. You are
curious which type of bag has the lowest environmental
impact. In order to quantify and compare the bag options, a
streamlined LCA is performed.
• Goal:
– Determine which grocery bag – single use paper,
single use plastic, reusable plastic, or reusable cotton – has
the lowest environmental impact
Sustainability Victoria, Comparison of existing life cycle analysis of shopping bag alternatives, Apr07.

6. Draw the System Boundaries
• Assumptions:
– All bags are manufactured 100km from the customer
– All bags travel 10km from the customer to the end of life
– Half of paper bags are recycled at end of life, half go to landfill
– Plastic & cotton bags go to landfill at end of life
1. As a group, draw the boundaries or process flow of the system

7. System Boundaries
50/50 to
Landfill &
Recycling
Cutting down
trees
Paper bag
Transform
trees into
paper
Form paper
into bags
Packaging &
Distribution
Use
Extracting
petroleum
Single use & reusable plastic bag
Transform
petroleum
into plastic
Form plastic
into bags
Packaging &
Distribution
Use Landfill

8. Functional Unit
• The functional unit is a measure of the function of the
studied system
– Provides a reference to which the inputs and outputs can be
related
– Enables comparison of two essentially different systems
• Examples
– The functional unit for a paint system may be defined as the unit
surface protected for 10 years
– The functional unit for a printer may be defined as the number of
printed pages of an acceptable print quality
– The functional unit for power generation systems may be defined
as 1kWh of electricity

9. The amount of shopping bags consumed by a household to
carry 70 grocery items home from the supermarket each
week for 52 weeks
Bag Type Single use
plastic
Single use
paper
Reusable
plastic
Reusable
cotton
Material HDPE Unbleached
Kraft paper
Polypropylene Cotton
Mass per bag 7g 42.6g 95g 85g
Relative Capacity 1 0.9 1.1 1.1
Bags per Year 520 578 4.55 4.55
Mass bags per
year
3640g 24622.8g 432.25g 386.75g
Functional Unit

10. Step 2: Life Cycle Inventory
• Highly data intensive
• Detailed mass & energy balances performed over life-cycle
• Advantages: measure data & define baseline metrics of
life-cycle processes
• Challenges: Assumptions made when data unavailable

11. Outputs
Products
Air, Water and
Solid Emissions
Inputs
Energy
Raw
Materials
database
Inventory
collected from
multiple sources
Step 2: Life Cycle Inventory

12. Toner Life-cycle Inventory
Ref: A.Ahmadi,et.al, J.Clean.Prod., 2003

13. Ref: A.Ahmadi,et.al, J.Clean.Prod., 2003
Toner Life-cycle Inventory

14. Impact Assessment Results
• Impact assessment converts the inventory into impact categories or
end points which details the human health and environmental effects.

15. High Density Polyethylene Inventory
Peer reviewed datasets imbedded in software
Data has been collected by others and
represents actual operations
Include:
•Known inputs
•Emissions to air
•Emissions to water
•Emissions to soil
•Wastes and emissions sent to treatment
Ability to modify datasets based on your own data
2. As a group, choose one of the four bags and
list the processes that are included in the
inventory

16. Life Cycle Inventory
Reusable Plastic Bag
Polypropylene, granulate 432.25g
Extrusion, plastic film 432.25g
Transport, 100km manufacturing to customer 0.043225tkm
Transport, municipal waste collection, 10km customer to landfill 0.0043225tkm
Disposal, polypropylene, to sanitary landfill 432.25g
Reusable Cotton Bag
Textile, woven cotton, at plant 386.75g
Transport, 100km manufacturing to customer 0.03867tkm
Transport, municipal waste collection, 10km customer to landfill 0.0038675tkm
Disposal, inert material, to sanitary landfill 386.75g
Single Use Plastic Bag
Polyethylene, HDPE, granulate 3640g
Stretch blow moulding 3640g
Transport, 100km manufacturing to customer 0.364tkm
Transport, municipal waste collection, 10km customer to landfill 0.0364tkm
Disposal, polyethylene, 0.4% water, to sanitary landfill 3640g
Single Use Paper Bag
Kraft paper, unbleached, at plant 24622.8g
Production of paper bags 24622.8g
Transport, 100km manufacturing to customer 2.4623tkm
Transport, municipal waste collection, 10km customer to landfill/recycling 0.24623tkm
Disposal, packaging paper, to sanitary landfill 12311g
Recycling paper 12311g

17. Step 3: Impact Assessment
• Converts the inventory into impact categories or
mid/end points which explain the environmental
effect
• Impact categories may include: carcinogens,
respiratory organics and inorganics, climate
change, radiation, ozone layer, ecotoxicity,
acidification/eutrophication, land use, minerals,
fossil fuels
• Can apply weights to impact categories

18. Fate analysis
Exposure &
effect analysis
Damage
analysis
Normalization
& weighting
Mineral &
Fossil
Resources
Ecosystem
Quality
Human
Health
Impact Assessment

19. Total Normalized Impact

20. Normalized Environmental Impact

21. Step 4: Report Results
• Life cycle interpretation: findings of the inventory analysis
or impact assessment are evaluated in relation to the goal
and scope of the study to reach conclusions and
recommendations
1. Identify significant issues
2. Evaluate results for completeness, consistency, and
sensitivity of the data
3. Draw conclusions & make recommendations consistent
with the goal & scope of the study

22. Interpreting Results
• Which bag has the lowest environmental impact?
Which bag has the highest?
• Let’s consider cost of the bags.
• As the store owner, does the cost information change
which type of bag you would promote? How?
• As a shopper, does the cost information change which type
of bag you would use? How?
Bag Type Single use plastic Single use paper Reusable plastic Reusable cotton
Material HDPE Unbleached Kraft paper Polypropylene Cotton
Cost per bag $0.02 $0.07 $1 $6
Cost per year $10.40 $40.46 $4.55 $27.30

23. Anahita Williamson, PhD
Director
Email: anahita.williamson@rit.edu
Phone: 585-475-4561
Kraft paper bags Australia
food packaging Australia
custom printed bags and boxes