Life cycle assessment of Mondi’s paper for pallet wrapping shows lower climate impact

• The ISO-based approach shows that the new paper pallet packaging performs better in several environmental impact categories including climate change, with 62% lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions when compared to virgin plastic stretch film.
• Mondi sees LCAs as a useful tool to analyse advantages of different material solutions and guide decision-making.

Mondi, global leader in packaging and paper, commissioned a life cycle assessment (LCA) comparing its new ground-breaking paper pallet wrapping innovation, Advantage StretchWrap, with conventional plastic stretch film wrapping. The full study was conducted by an external consultancy, is ISO-compliant and includes an external critical review. Based on the assumption that both materials are recycled at the end-of-life, the findings showed that the paper-based pallet wrapping by Mondi has a lower climate impact as one of the LCA indicators.

The basis of comparison is the potential environmental impacts arising from wrapping one pallet. The LCA examined 16 indicators to understand potential trade-offs between the two materials. It covers all relevant life cycle stages, from raw material extraction, production, up to the application on a pallet at the customer. In addition, the impact of the end-of-life stage is assessed.

The LCA found that Advantage StretchWrap has 62% lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions when compared to virgin plastic stretch film, and 49% lower GHG emissions when compared to plastic stretch film made with 50% recycled content. Advantage StretchWrap has a lower environmental impact than plastic in a number of categories including climate change and fossil resource use. The plastic stretch film did perform better in some indicators, such as land use and freshwater eutrophication.

Karoline Angerer, Product Sustainability Manager Kraft Paper & Paper Bags, Mondi, says: “Given the complexities of material choice, we see independent critical reviews as essential to ensuring LCAs that deliver objective and reliable results focusing on the environmental benefits of each material. At Mondi, we use these results as part of our decision-making process in line with our MAP2030 sustainability commitments. Our customers value our attention to detail and how we partner using our EcoSolutions approach to develop solutions that are sustainable by design.”