Even though grass cardboard works with a rest/waste product unlike virgin wood pulp, the average energy consumption for the production process is currently the same as kraft in Pickler. Additionally, both paper types have the same end-of-life process.
Resulting in the same environmental impact and carbon footprint results for both paper types.
But why?
No market average LCA available for grass cardboard (yet)
There currently is no market average yet for grass cardboard (not enough reliable LCAs available in the market). Hence, there's a lot of greenwashing due to a lack of solid evidence in the market.
As a result, the same production process as kraft is applied for grass cardboard. Until better LCAs become available to be processed by Idemat.
Our LCI database Idemat says the following regarding grass cardboard:
"The exact eco-costs and carbon footprint of products that are made from agricultural waste or wood waste, must be derived from the amount of energy and water that is required for production. This needs to be verified and documented in a letter by an independent accounting firm. The minimum resulting score that can be accepted is the same score of molded paper."
Steps to improve grass cardboard scores in Pickler
At Pickler we work with the minimum available for grass cardboard by applying the same production process as normal paper.
Only when supplier-specific information is available, as mentioned above by Idemat - may it be included in Pickler:
Most specific results: Request your supplier for an LCA for their grass cardboard, created by an independent LCA consultancy/firm. This information can be sent to Idemat for a review, and can potentially be added if approved.
Fastest way to nuance: Request the energy consumption, and energy type for the production of 1 KG of grass cardboard from your supplier. Feed this into Pickler for more nuanced results.