Product Lifecycle Analysis

Integrating environmental protection right from the design stage of a product: this is the principle of eco-design that ADDEV Materials wanted to deploy, in order to improve the environmental performance of products by reducing their impact.

"As part of our business of repackaging liquid products, we carried out an LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) to analyse the impact of two of our containers used for paint applications in the aeronautical industry: a Floater Cup (rigid plastic container) versus a Burstseal Pack (multilayer flexible pouch)," explains Jason Smith, R&D Director at ZIPCHEM - Andpak. "We sought to identify the main sources of impact in their respective life cycles: extraction of raw materials, production, distribution, use and end of life," explains Aziz REZIG, Group Innovation and Development Director.

This multi-stage, multi-criteria approach integrates the various stages of the life cycle, and takes into account material and energy consumption, discharges into the natural environment, and the effects on the climate and biodiversity.

By analysing the impacts of these 2 containers, this LCA has identified the main sources of impact in their respective life cycles.

We managed to identify the one with the best environmental performance:

The Burstseal Pack is clearly preferable to the Floater Cup under the conditions defined in the study:

• On average -90% to -94% of impacts considering the defined functional unit
• On average -73% to -85% of impact considering the one-for-one comparison

Above all, we have identified how the impact of these two containers could be reduced by using eco-design strategies: integrating recycled materials, using alternatives to end-of-life incineration, using larger cardboard boxes, or reducing the size of labels are all avenues to be explored.