Strategy for the use of LCA within SCA

The aim of this strategy is to give practical advice on how the tool LCA can be an integral part of a company’s environmental work. The strategy is based on experiences from SCA Personal Care, which is one of the business areas of SCA.

This strategy shows how a systematic work with collecting data and performing regular LCAs can result in a build-up of valuable product knowledge in the company. The internal competence on LCA becomes consolidated and at the same time a formal function and structure for LCA is developed. SCA Personal Care has since 1996 also co-operated successfully with external research in the competence centre of  CPM , hosted by Chalmers University of Technology. These factors are all listed as success factors for institutionalisation of LCA according to Frankl & Rubik¹.

The knowledge from the LCAs is used to improve the different environmental aspects of the product system, from the actual design of the product to securing that tools and resources dedicated for improving the company’s environmental performance are put in the right places along the value chain.

The primary target group for this strategy is any company or group of persons within a company who aims at starting up work with LCA where the goal is to have an integrated method and keep the LCA competence within the company as a strategic advantage.

The deepened knowledge about the environmental performance of the company’s product system are primarily aimed at the R&D department and product developers. Other groups that can take advantage are to be found along the whole value chain of the company. The suppliers of raw materials learn of their contribution to the overall environmental performance of the product, and can get a deeper understanding of the way the company rates its suppliers. At the production sites of the company there is an understanding of their part of the total environmental work of the company. For sales people the environmental knowledge about the products can strengthen argumentation in sales situations. SCA Personal Care’s products are disposable hygiene products, and the sales people sometimes have to face environmental comparisons with reusable products. A direct communication with the customers are also possible, where among other things the environmental impact of requested feature of a product can be measured and discussed with the customer. Finally, the deep knowledge about the products strengthens the company in political policy discussions.

 

¹ Frankl, P. & Rubik, F. ”Life Cycle Assessment in Industry and Business – Adoption patterns, applications and implications”, 2000

Working procedure