Part of the industry sustainability group VinylPlus for a decade, Polymer-Chemie has been using an online platform to analyse its operations and cut CO2 emissions, while encouraging its customers to get in on the action.
They’re working with Munich-based ConClimate, which used their platform Substain® to develop a Product Carbon Footprint / Environmental Footprint calculation tool for Polymer-Chemie to see how to shrink that footprint.
“Containing the CO2-equivalents for raw materials, transportation, packaging and the production process, the software allows us to calculate detailed Product Carbon Footprints at the push of a button,” says CEO Dirk Breitbach.
“We show our customers how the PVC-compound can be optimised and discuss with them concrete steps to reduce the CO2-footprint,” Dirk says. “For example use bio-based or recycled raw materials, change packaging, and use other ways of transportation.”
The tool is also ready to include other impact dimensions like water consumption, land use or eutrophication potential. That way, Polymer-Chemie can extend the calculation to a full life cycle impact analysis.