Life Cycle Inventory provides a detailed analysis of material and energy use, solid wastes, and emissions to air and water over the entire life cycle of a package, beginning with raw material extraction and continuing through end of life, e.g., landfill, recycle, or reuse. This information allows packaging designers and users to identify packaging options that minimize overall burdens on the environment.
Many data sets are required to construct a Life Cycle Inventory, including data for each process step in the life cycle, and data for the production of the materials and fuels that are used in each process. The U.S. LCI Database is an important resource that has been developed to provide publicly available, fully documented LCI data sets that follow a uniform protocol and that can be used to construct LCIs for a variety of packaging and products. The database is maintained by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and can be accessed at www.nrel.gov/lci.
Currently, the U.S. LCI Database contains more than 77 unit process data sets for materials, fuels, and energy sources that are commonly used in many packaging systems. Soon "rolled-up" cradle-to-resin data will be available for nine common plastic resins and two polyurethane precursor materials.
To ensure true sustainability, it is essential to use tools such as LCI that consider the full life cycle of a product or package, rather than relying on single attributes that may not give a complete picture of the full environmental consequences of packaging choices. The U.S. LCI Database provides an important resource for sustainability efforts.
For more information on the importance of Life Cycle Inventories to sustainable packaging, please write to Bill Franklin at [email protected].
By Bill Franklin and Bev Sauer Franklin Associates, a Division of ERG
