Consumers can ask for an EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) of products. While an EPD provides detailed and standardized information on the environmental impact of a product, other methods of proving environmental claims can provide additional context and assurance to consumers. Ultimately, it is up to the company to determine which method(s) of proving environmental claims align with their values, goals, and budget. So far, there is no obligatory method for reporting environmental information of a product. In this article the pro's and con's of EPD's are discussed and compared with Pickler's eco forecast.

An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a comprehensive report that provides information about a product's environmental impact throughout its life cycle, including raw material extraction, transportation, manufacturing, use, and end-of-life disposal. The report is based on a life cycle assessment (LCA), which evaluates the product's energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, water usage, and waste generation. A packaging company may want to obtain an EPD for various reasons, such as demonstrating its commitment to environmental responsibility and sustainability, complying with environmental regulations and standards, gaining a competitive advantage by highlighting its environmental performance, and improving its product design to reduce its environmental footprint.

Product Category Rules (PCRs) are a set of guidelines and requirements that must be followed when conducting an LCA for a particular product category. PCRs define the scope and boundaries of the assessment, including the functional unit, system boundaries, data requirements, and calculation methodologies. While the European Union is working to create mandatory PCRs for packaging, the process is expected to take years. However, industry organizations and associations have developed voluntary PCRs.

Pickler's eco forecast is an automated tool that provides packaging companies with a dynamic and easily understandable report on their product's environmental impact. Unlike an EPD, which requires time-consuming data collection and analysis by an LCA expert, Pickler's eco forecast uses a combination of generic and specific data to calculate the product's environmental impact. The calculation rules used by Pickler's eco forecast are mutually agreed upon with scientific experts from the Technical University of Delft and are comparable to the system boundaries from PCRs for packaging. This makes Pickler's eco forecast more objective and less sensitive to human error and subjective interpretation than an EPD. The report provided by Pickler's eco forecast is easily accessible and includes clear visuals and graphs that are understandable for non-experts. The methodology used by Pickler's eco forecast is robust and in line with ISO 14040/14044/14067, and the data is transparent and verifiable for everyone. Finally, Pickler's eco forecast is scalable and available at a low cost, making it a more cost-efficient alternative to EPDs.