Foil cartridge shows a 75% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions
An internal Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was conducted by the ECODESIGN company for medmix, to assess the environmental aspects and impacts of the materials, manufacturing and distribution of the MIXPAC ecopaCC foil cartridge versus the medmix 600ml 1:1 polypropylene solid cartridge.
The results show that the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) of ecopaCC are less than a quarter of the GHG of the solid cartridge in all these life cycle stages, and as such, ecopaCC offers a fully compatible product for standard dispensers with greatly reduced greenhouse gas emission.
medmix is a provider of liquid application and mixing technologies. The company develops and produces sustainable cartridges for sealants and adhesives for the construction and industrial sectors.
A flagship product of medmix is the ecopaCC, with its unique special foil composite 0.15mm thick, which replaces the 2.2mm thick plastic body of the medmix solid cartridges. The new design of ecopaCC preserves the barrier and mechanical properties, safeguards performance and reliability, at the time that the chosen materials and improved production bring a drastic reduction of the greenhouse gas emissions.
Dr. Adriana Díaz, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) expert at the ECODESIGN company in Vienna commented: “We started in 2005 as a spin-off of the Vienna University of Technology, to help organisations analyse their products, assess the environmental aspects and impacts, and support the adoption of ecodesign strategies towards more sustainable products and operations of our clients. Key ecodesign strategies for primary packaging products include, for example, the reduction in the use of materials and the substitution of materials while preserving product functionality, and using low carbon energy sources for the production processes. These strategies are already implemented by medmix for the ecopaCC. Overall, the ecopaCC shows 154.7 gCO2-eq compared to 661.1 gCO2-eq for a solid cartridge, a reduction in GHG emissions of approximately 77%”.
The internal LCA of the medmix cartridges assessed the materials, manufacturing and distribution for a representative B2B scenario of the two cartridges. medmix gathered detailed and accurate data of energy use of their injection moulding processes at their main cartridge production locations. With respect to distribution, the collapsible design of ecopaCC takes up four times less space than the solid cartridge in a lorry load, which results in less than a third of the GHG emissions of the solid cartridge.
“We are delighted with the assessment results, which confirm and underpin our great efforts in making innovative and sustainable products. Ecodesign principles are a fundamental part of our innovative product portfolio and mindset”, said Roman Thoenig, Head Business Segment Industry at medmix.
medmix also tackled the challenge of reducing waste from the single use of cartridges. The ecopaCC foil cartridge body and piston can be reused, with a service life of up to 1000 uses for specific applications. This ensures that material savings are matched with less waste generation.
medmix is committed to low carbon energy use at the manufacturing plants in Poland and Switzerland, to further minimise the environmental impacts. The facility in Poland is powered by 100% wind energy. The Swiss plant is powered by 95% nuclear energy, with the remaining 5% a mix of renewable sources.
“We already conduct internal LCA’s”, says Maxime Darimont, Sustainability Manager at medmix, “with these encouraging results, we are going to investigate the needs to perform independent LCA’s”. By assessing all aspects of our supply chain, products, operations and facilities – we can provide evidence of the sustainability advantages our products deliver. Using this evidence as a benchmark, we will continue to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across all areas of our business.”
