How Do PCRs, EPDs And LCAs Help The Corrugated Industry? BY CHASE KAMMERER
can take to make greener, more sustainable products. So, what are the differences between PCRs, EPDs, and LCAs, and what work has the corrugated industry done in this arena? PCRs allow for the review and comparison of different environmental product attributes among products in a de- fined category. PCRs help ensure that claims (boundaries, data, assumptions, uncertainty, etc.) are comparable when describing LCA results and provide instructions for how LCAs should be conducted. PCRs are also necessary to determine the rules and requirements for EPDs. EPDs are a declaration of a product’s attributes con- cerning different environmental parameters during the product life cycle. An EPD requires gathering quantified data for a product with categories of parameters: raw ma- terial, energy use, and waste, to name a few. Also known as sustainable manufacturing, many com- panies use this strategy to increase growth and competi-
Fibre Box Association (FBA) is once again partnering with the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) and oth-
er stakeholders on Product Category Rules (PCR) for containerboard. The first PCR was developed in 2017 and established the rules for performing Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) in the industry and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). PCRs, LCAs, and EPDs tell us
Chase Kammerer
about the environmental costs of extracting resources and the actual cost of creating a product for use in our every- day lives. These tools give us the knowledge for steps we
tiveness. With an EPD, manufacturers report comparable, objective, and third-party ver- ified data that show the good and the bad about the environmental performance of their products and services. When develop- ing an EPD, the environmental performance is described by carrying out an LCA of the product. Most of us have heard of LCAs and are maybe even aware of what they evaluate as far as a “cradle-to-gate/grave” analysis. We can break down LCAs into critical parts: 1. Identifying and quantifying the environ- mental impact, including the energy used to extract the resource, the emissions, and the waste generated. 2. Evaluating all potential impacts to the environment from the loads. 3. Using the data (from 1 and 2) to assess options for reducing the environmental im- pacts. As the public becomes aware of the envi- ronmental impact that packaging and other single-use products have on our health and the health of ecological systems, tools like EPDs and LCAs, and the PCRs they’re built from are telling a vital story. We are learning what works for reducing emissions and gain- ing knowledge on reducing our footprints. For the corrugated industry, these tools tell a story about a renewable resource, the ease at which it is recycled on a large scale or composted, and how we continuously work to make the process even more sus- tainable. Collecting life cycle data every few years tracks changes like CO2, NOx, and SOx emissions and drives energy use reductions. CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
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August 1, 2022
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