Main features of the project
CO2 emissions saved (tCO2): 216 tCO2 per year based on last exercice’s sales figures, 0,3kg CO2 per selling unit (6 toilet paper rolls)
Investment: 2,5 M€
Partnerships: Local machinery designer and builder “Zorpack
Reducing transport-related emissions through product eco-design: the “toilet paper in a box” project
Project description
LC Paper repurposed its energy sourcing strategy during the last decade by implementing an in-house solar photovoltaic park (4MWp over a land of 20Ha adjacent to the mill), a high-capacity biomass boiler which is powered by the residues of nearby forest cleaning to avoid wildfires, and the partial substitution of natural gas by biomethane created in local farming industries. The result of those initiatives was a significant decrease in GHG emissions during the manufacturing phase of the product life cycle. However, a large part of the product life emissions are not originated during the manufacturing process but rather in the raw material sourcing stage (prior to manufacturing) and during distribution (post manufacturing) – a reality that LC Paper wanted to change as part of its efforts to minimize the global life cycle emissions of its tissue products.
Project purpose
To decrease the transport-related emissions of toilet rolls through a radical change in the consumer packaging for those products. Plastic film wraps were replaced by recycled folding board packs, resembling cereal boxes. This approach allows a much better use of space and higher pallets during transportation, thus decreasing the emissions in the logistics phase. It also reduces the single-use plastic to zero, while it preserves the product recognition through a fully printed design which contains a real size picture of the content, something that we call “transparency effect”.
Project evaluation
The main KPI was to get a sufficient automated packaging speed which could compete with the traditional plastic films in terms of productivity and result in an attractive product price point. Since there was no state-of-the-art available machinery for automating toilet rolls packaging in folding board boxes, it was necessary to develop the solution in-house through a partnership with local machinery suppliers which were not previously present in the tissue industry. This goal was successfully met, and the “cereal box” toilet paper products are now shipped throughout Europe both under our own brand, Dalia, as well as through private labels.
Interview with Mr. Pau Vila, General Manager of LC Paper
Why did you choose the boxed packaging instead of other industry trends such as paper wrapping or compostable films?
While we share the need to find alternatives to single-use plastic packaging for tissue products, we wanted to take this opportunity to not only do a change of material but also to repurpose how the packaging impacts logistics and reduce the share of the distribution emissions over the whole product life cycle footprint. We found out that paper wrapping and compostable film do not contribute to fundamentally improving the logistics efficiency.
Is this only a cosmetic change in the exterior, but the toilet rolls inside the packages remain the same?
No – this is the latest step of a journey which started in repurposing the paper itself and how it was made, through the substitution of fossil-based energy sourcing by renewable sources, the choice of materials and fibers (we use unbleached fibers for this project) and the thought behind the product specifications, which included decisions like using two thicker plies instead of three thin plies to get a premium-feeling product with a lower energy usage.
