Everything we purchase, whether reusable, cheap or beloved, has a long journey before they’re in our possession. If we can examine their source, production, distribution, use and disposal, we can better determine the impacts they have on our environment.
At Sonoco, we have in-house specialists who conduct studies like these – known as Life Cycle Assessments or LCAs. They help us better understand our carbon footprint and our customers’ Scope 3 emissions. This requires a comprehensive understanding of industrial systems, supply-chains, transportation systems, raw material consumptions and other niche concepts.
In February, a new LCA Specialist with the right mix of passion and expertise joined our Sustainability Team. After a few months on the job, Dr. Purva Mhatre-Shah gave us insight into her work, the importance of LCAs and the impact they have on sustainability.
Let’s start with LCA’s. What are they?
A Life Cycle Assessment accounts for the different environmental impacts of a product across its entire life-cycle – from mining to disposal. Consider our rigid paper container as an example, let’s assume it is made of paper, has a polypropylene liner, metal bottom and plastic lid. For an LCA, we would look at every single aspect of the life cycle of this container – from the upstream supply chain, where we get each piece of raw material and the energy we consume in making the final product, shipping to our customers and finally, the impacts associated with the end-of-life treatment of our packages.
Why is this important?
Two reasons. One, our customers are working actively to understand their Scope 3 emissions and we want to ensure we provide credible data. The second, very important reason, is for us. We need to know what our own footprint looks like to determine what areas we can improve or reduce our product footprint.
For example, LCAs show us energy intensive processes can be made more environmentally efficient by using renewable energy. We can determine which coatings have a lower environmental footprint – and even the materials with lower impacts. Sometimes, this isn’t straightforward. Paper offers minimal impacts; however, the process requires freshwater consumption. LCAs help us evaluate these nuances so we can make informed decisions in our efforts to provide customer and consumers with Better Packaging. Better Life® solutions worldwide.
Tell us about some exciting, recent projects.
Our facility in Montanay, France wanted to better evaluate their carbon footprint and understand how they can reduce this footprint over the years as they adopt technology and processes to become more sustainable. After active engagement with this facility, we now have an interactive, Excel-based calculator they can use to assess the impact of different variables, such as material choices or renewable energy, on the footprint of the cans they produce.
Given the increasing demand for Product Carbon Footprints and upcoming EPD regulations, I am keen on looking into automation capabilities. At the same time, we need to make sure our data remains
transparent, credible and dependable as we drive toward these solutions. The more detail we have, the better our understanding and resulting practices.
What do you love most about working here?
Our people. I also love how senior leadership listens to ideas and they’re receptive to innovation and changes that foster sustainability.
LCAs are a new dimension for companies trying to understand sustainability on a whole new level. We’re trying to stay at the forefront of these studies, and everyone at Sonoco wants to do the right thing by supporting customers with informed decisions about packaging footprint.
What interested you in the field?
I’m a civil engineer with a master’s degree in structural engineering. Buildings and bridges have always intrigued me. I find the construction of them fascinating.
While studying for my master’s, I started thinking more about buildings. I grew up in India where I saw a lot of new construction happening quickly and would always wonder – all this material mined would be destroyed in the next 70-80 years. This isn’t sustainable. So, I got my doctorate in sustainability management to help quantify the impacts of a circular economy. I used Life Cycle Sustainability Assessments for the quantification; thus, was introduced to environmental life cycle assessments.
Data driven insights are always important and that is the value I hope to bring here – the ability to give customers and our own manufacturing teams informed choices because the more we know, the more we can improve.
Want to learn more about Sonoco Sustainability? Visit our sustainability webpage or join our upcoming virtual events to stay current with sustainability innovations and regulations.
About Dr. Mhatre-Shah
Dr. Purva Mhatre-Shah is an experienced leader in life cycle, circular economies and sustainability assessments. She has worked for several global companies in a variety of sectors. Prior to Sonoco, she worked as a Sustainability Analyst for EarthShift Global and then as a Corporate Sustainability and Climate Change Consultant for ERM. As a Sonoco Associate Manager and LCA Specialist, she leads and manages life cycle and sustainability assessments for a range of global brand owners.
Purva has her doctorate in sustainability management from the Indian Institute of Management in Mumbai where she served as a lead researcher for system design projects and a mentor to other graduate students.
