Understanding the impacts of candy production

For a global confections company, PRé built models of the packaging and production of various types of candy, and projected the models forward to predict future impacts. This helps the company improve their future sustainability, starting now.

By Paula Bernstein on July 13, 2015

Footprinting a large variety of products and packages

For many industries, the environmental impacts of products are more of a priority than the impacts of packaging. But in certain industries, the products are sold in a wide variety of packages, making the environmental impact of the wrappers as interesting as the impact of the products. Candy is such a product: even a single type of candy, such as chewing gum, can be sold in tins, paper wrappers, plastic wrappers and blister packs. From a sustainability perspective, it becomes very interesting for large confections companies to see which type of packaging has the largest impact.

Models for now and for the future

PRé worked with a global confections company to build models of ten products – different candies and packaging types, originating from multiple factories. The company was not just interested in which product and packaging type had the most impact now, but also in which products and packaging types would potentially contribute most to the brand footprint in future. PRé calculated the various impacts in the current situations, and scaled up each life cycle model by sales forecast and product configuration to develop the scenarios for the future.

From this project, the company gained insight that allowed them to focus on the products, regions and packaging types with the largest environmental impacts, and an awareness of the sustainability impact of their projected growth. With this experience, it also becomes easier for the company to expand their analyses to their other brands.

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Contact the author

Paula Bernstein worked for PRé from 2013 to February 2018. Her areas of expertise included environmental product performance, LCA databases, and supply chain sustainability measurement. Paula collaborated structurally in LCA and sustainability metrics implementation projects for many industries, such as apparel, food, and building & construction. She also worked closely with the PRé software team to implement databases in PRé’s software package SimaPro.