Ilip has published its first environmental product declaration (EPD) on its fruit and vegetable punnets.
The Italian-based company, which specialises in making punnets from recycled PET, chose a product from its B40 heat-sealable range as the subject of its study.
Nicola Ballini, general manager of Ilip, said the purpose of an EPD is to present the environmental performance of a product. This allows for an objective comparison between products with the same function, which thereby stimulates continuous environmental improvement.
“The publication of the EPD comes as part of our sustainability policy, which, in turn, comes under the scope of our more general corporate social responsibility, which will be involved over the next few months by major developments and innovations, always aimed at assuring the transparent communication of objective, measurable information,” Ballini explained.
To obtain an EPD, environmental data on the life cycle of the product must be provided in accordance with international standard ISO 14025.
A life cycle assessment (LCA) is carried out, taking into account the specific rules of calculation for the product category investigated, as contained in the respective product category rules (PCR).
The results of this assessment are then verified by an accredited independent party. In Ilip’s case, this has been done by SGS Italia.
“This EPD is the result of a process that began with the Profood category association of which Ilip is a founding member; it saw the creation of a new professional figure in the company, the LCA Expert,” Ballini explained.
Ilip’s EPD has been developed and registered within the International EPD System programme, whose programme operator is EPD International AB.
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