Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a scientific method used to measure the environmental impact of a product.
It looks at the full picture: all materials, all processes, all transport, and what happens after use.
This helps avoid simple assumptions such as “recyclable = sustainable” or “paper = better than plastic.”
For example:
A material might be recyclable, but require large amounts of energy or water to produce.
A lightweight plastic may have a lower overall impact than a heavier “eco-looking” alternative.
A compostable material may reduce waste but rely on intensive agriculture.
Lifecycle stages in an LCA
To understand environmental impact, LCA follows a product through a set of standard stages:
Raw Materials – Extraction and production of materials such as plastics, paper, metals, or biobased inputs.
Manufacturing – Processing, forming, printing, filling, and other production steps.
Transport – Movement of materials and products between suppliers, factories, warehouses, and customers.
End-of-Life – What happens after use: recycling, incineration with energy recovery, composting, or landfill.
There is also a use phase, but for packaging this usually has no direct environmental processes and is therefore excluded in Pickler’s methodology.
Measuring More than Carbon Footprint
LCA looks at several different types of environmental impact — not just carbon — helping you avoid one-dimensional decisions.
Nature – Land use, biodiversity loss, water pollution.
Human Health – Air quality and pollutant exposure.
Material Scarcity – Use of limited or non-renewable resources.
Global Warming – Greenhouse gas emissions.
This makes LCA a complete way to understand the environmental consequences of each choice.
Pickler's Fast Track LCA
Pickler applies LCA through a standardised, practical approach called Fast-Track LCA.
It is based on the same scientific foundations and lifecycle stages as traditional LCA, but uses one consistent, transparent way of calculating impact for every product.
Fast-Track LCA uses:
fixed boundaries
predefined allocation rules
one scientific background database
one uniform calculation model
This allows companies to calculate environmental impact in a reliable, scalable, and comparable way across their full packaging range.
Pickler’s Fast-Track LCA method is independently verified by Normec Verifavia, confirming alignment with ISO 14040 and ISO 14044.
What You Get From a Fast-Track LCA Calculation
Fast-Track LCA provides a clear set of environmental metrics you can use for comparisons, reporting, and decision-making.
Eco-Costs: A single metric for the total environmental impact of your product.
Carbon Footprint: The total greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere from a product, expressed in CO2-equivalents (CO2-eq).
Eco-Score: The eco-costs of each product are turned into an overall score, for A+ to F.
True Costs: The sum of a product's sales price (market price) and eco-costs (environmental costs).
ESRS E1-5 Data: Data needed for CSRD compliance and scope 3 reporting.
With these building blocks, you now understand what LCA is, how Fast-Track LCA works, and what data you receive for each product. This gives you everything you need to start comparing packaging, making informed decisions, and supporting your sustainability reporting.