The Packaging model

In this article, we cover the specific packaging model, and its specific submodels: PackagingPET and PackagingGlass.

Description of the model

Pilario’s LCA Packaging model serves as an essential tool for addressing environmental challenges related to packaging. It is designed for industries that utilize a variety of packaging materials, including glass, metal, cardboard, and plastic, enabling them to evaluate and improve their packaging solutions effectively.

What manufacturing processes are available for my products?

There are several manufacturing process available in Pilario for the manufacturing step. By selecting one or another will populate the manufacturing loss and energy consumption with the default values defined in the model. The user can always overwrite one or many input parameters in case they know more specific values.

The table below shows the available processes and they default parameters for the loss rate and the energy consumptions:

Note: The default manufacturing process is the "Custom process" where the user must input the values themselves.

Note: Some processes (*) are only available in the Packaging PET model.

See, in the example below, how changing the manufacturing process from "Custom process" to "Plastic injection" applies a default manufacturing loss of 0.5 and an energy consumption: natural gas consumption of 4.4 MJ/kg in and electricity 1.5 kWh/kg in.

How is the transported weight calculated?

The transported weight is an automatically calculated parameter present in several stages: Supply transport, Distribution and Collection. For example, the image below presents the transported weight for the Main body of an Aluminiun can of 33 cl.

In each of the stages, it will be calculated taking into account other parameters:

• Supply transport stage: the transported weight is calculated as the raw material(s) that need to enter the factory to produce the end packaging. It takes into account all the losses occurring at the manufacturing and filling processes.
• Distribution stage: the transported weight is calculated as the packaging weight and its content.
• Collection stage: the transported weight is calculated as the total weight from the packages that are returned (because they are defined as with multiple uses).

According to which amount of material should I fill the energy consumption in the manufacturing stage?

Pilario expects you to put the energy consumption (natural gas, LPG, diesel, etc) based on the amount of material that enters this step. This amount of material is called weight in and takes into account the manufacturing losses, therefore you should always provide that value when known in the specific Manufacturing loss input parameter. Please note that this value might be prepopulated when selecting a specific manufacturing process, as explained in the previous section.

Let see the following example where we are producing via bottle blow moulding a bottle of 32g of plastic.

1. We have input in the composition of the product 32 g in the PET weight.

2. In the manufacturing stage, we have created a Step 1 where we have selected Bottle blow moulding as the manufacturing process. This will apply a default Manufacturing loss of 0.3 % and an electricity consumption of 0.6223 kWh/kg in (the later is not shown in the picture).

If the user wants to overwrite the default value for the Energy consumption, they should consider the weight of 32.1 g, as displayed in the greyed field above. As per the formula: