Circularity Assessment of Packaging with the Packaging Cockpit

To reduce packaging waste and the environmental impacts of packaging the Circular Economy Package and the Green Deal were passed on the European level as well as several directives that concern packaging (Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, Waste Framework Directive etc.). The EU-legislation is complemented in many countries by additional national laws or directives adding national peculiarities. For brand owner and retail chains it is getting more and more difficult to stay abreast of these developments and a lot of specific data for packaging are necessary to fulfill national requirements and reporting obligations. Circular Analytics developed together with ECR-Austria and GS1 standardized packaging specifications that include all the attributes necessary to automatically calculate packaging recyclability and a standardized Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of packaging. This is the basis for a sharing of packaging specification data along the supply chain – from packaging manufacturers to fillers, brand owner, retailer, and packaging systems (dual systems). Packaging Cockpit is a packaging management software with the following features: a. Transfer of packaging data along the supply chain b. Calculation of Recyclability c. Calculation of a streamlined LCA according to PEF (product environmental footprint) Packaging recyclability is calculated for all packaging materials according to the WPO/ECR-Circular Packaging Design Standard, the first global circular packaging design guideline, that includes the relevant guidelines available – CEPI for paper, Recyclass, - and national standards such as the German “Mindeststandard für die Bemessung der Recyclingfähigkeit von Verpackungen”. For the calculation the country specific collection, sorting and recycling streams are applied, so recyclability is country-specific and may differ significantly between countries. Circularity and direct environmental impacts of packaging as measured by LCA are important parameters to characterize packaging sustainability, but do not give the complete picture. For a holistic sustainability assessment of packaging a model for holistic sustainability assessment was developed by FH Campus Vienna and Circular Analytics. This model is based on three pillars, product protection, circularity and environmental impact.