Global warming potential (GWP), otherwise known as ‘carbon footprint’, measures the potential global warming impact of a process in CO2 equivalents of greenhouse gases between a defined start and end point.
At Innovia Films, we have in-house Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) capability, backed up by external expertise from PE International. In the case of NatureFlex™, a complete LCA has been carried out from ‘Cradle to Gate’; this has allowed us to measure and understand the impacts of all our raw materials, through the whole of our manufacturing process until the finished slit reel of film is ready to leave our site.
Significant improvements to the raw materials we employ and to our manufacturing process have been made, including a new production line that started-up in 2009. This has resulted in the GWP of a NatureFlex™ film today being only 45% of the level of a Cellophane™ film in the 1990’s. This improvement will continue, with further investment in our process and product portfolio.
GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL 2010
It is increasingly common for companies to seek to compare the carbon footprints of different materials, but great care must be taken to ensure that the comparisons are made only between materials with similar functional properties and using the same LCA methodologies and start and end points.
The graph shown above compares the latest carbon footprint values (kg CO2eq / kg) of
plain, uncoated NatureFlex™ and of barrier-coated NatureFlex™ films with that of a basic PET film. These films represent the closest comparative materials in terms of density, mechanical properties, printability and heat resistance and therefore serve similar market applications. For reference, an uncoated BOPP is also shown.
In addition, we have operated a number of carbon offsetting schemes over the past three years.