PIQET: the design and development of an online 'streamlined' LCA tool for sustainable packaging design decision support

'Streamlined' life cycle assessment (LCA) tools hold out the possibility of providing LCA information quickly and easily in order to support a variety of decision-making environments and situations. The utility of such tools is closely related to the accuracy needs and possibilities, and the particular decisions to be supported. In order to facilitate the provision and application of LCA information in decision making during packaging design, development and utilisation, there is a prima facia case for a 'streamlined' LCA tool, provided it meets a set of requirements, including functionality, accuracy, validity, reliability and usability. One such 'streamlined' LCA tool, Packaging Impact Quick Evaluation Tool (PIQET), has been designed to allow for packaging system scenarios to be evaluated. Utilising embedded life cycle inventory data for material manufacture, converting, filling, cleaning of returnables, transport and end-of-life waste management processes, PIQET presents life cycle environmental impacts for the different levels of packaging. These life cycle environmental impacts are combined with packaging-specific indicators, such as product/packaging ratio and number of packaging materials per format, to provide the user, typically a packaging technologist, designer, environmental manager or marketer, a comprehensive assessment of the packaging format being assessed. This paper introduces the case for a streamlined LCA tool for sustainable packaging design and evaluation, and describes the design and development of PIQET. Particular reference is made to the tool development model, including the involvement of industry partners' input. Goal and scope, functional unit, system boundary, characterisation and impact assessment in PIQET, and key algorithms and data sources are described. The functionality, application and limitations of the tool are also highlighted in the paper, along with ideas for further research and development. The paper concludes with the discussion of the inevitable trade-offs between functionality, cost and accuracy in streamlined LCA tools in comparison to more detailed and specific LCAs. The authors contend that the two approaches are not alternatives but occupy different parts of the necessary innovation niche of sustainable packaging system change. While streamlined LCA tools are compromises, they can be potentially useful and have their own unique role in furthering the use of LCA data in decision making.