FEFCO (European Federation of Corrugated Board Manufacturers), together with CCB (Cepi Container Board), has released the new “European Database for Corrugated Board Life Cycle Studies 2021”.

FEFCO and CCB have been collecting and publishing life cycle data for more than 25 years.
The life cycle analysis follows a robust process of data collection, evaluation and validation by LCA experts. The process and data are subject to independent peer review by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Heidelberg GmbH, Germany.

The 2021 report and data collection cover a significant proportion of the sector representing:

• 84% of the total annual production for kraftliner and semi-chemical fluting and 74% of the production of testliner and recycled fluting.
•  73% of the total annual corrugated board production in average.

This 10th edition shows substantial developments and demonstrates the efforts made by the European corrugated industrie and its paper suppliers to reduce their impact on the environment. One such aspect is the use of recycled material for the production of new corrugated packaging indicating an average of 88% recycled content in 2021. The report shows further improvements of environmental parameters:

• 18% reduction in consumption of wood and 4% reduction in the consumption of recovered paper, indicating continuous improvements to reduce resource use.
•  5% decrease in fossil fuels consumption.
•  28% decrease in emissions of NOx at the production sites.
•  33% decrease in emissions of SOx at the production sites.

FEFCO and CCB are committed to continue providing LCA data in a transparent and consistent approach to support the evolution of the industry practices and the overall environmental performance of the sector demonstrating the industry is aligned with the EU Green Deal ambitions.