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Minutes of the Packaging LCA Scoping Group - 26 November 2007
The group met by conference call, with Joe Catanio Keith Christman, Bill Heenan, , Ken Martchek, Dennis Sabourin and Rita Schenck attending.
We discussed the goal that the container should be designated in such a way that the maximum number of industries could be represented. This will allow every industry to help in setting a framework for scoping other LCA’s.
The group chose a container to scope: it will be a shelf-stable food container of approximately 15 to 20 ounce capacity (exact size to be determined later).
The group was mixed in response to their resources. The virgin plastics industry is good to go, the glass and recycled PET industry are doing some internal work covering some but not all of the life cycle, the steel industry is working on the gate-to-container forming to filling issues. There was some discussion that the different industries will have different resource issues and to help us get through those, Rita will call the different members separately over the next week or so and develop a generalized flow chart.
We also discussed the kind of resources needed. Basically, we need someone who understands the technical issues for their industry containers, and how they are made, and has a grasp of LCA but is not an LCA expert. The timeline for the work is 6 to 12 months and we probably need about a week of work from the designated persons over that time frame. It is important that that person or persons have the confidence of their industry, that they are appropriately representing them. If they have not already done so, everyone should be assuring that these resources are available.
We agreed to meet at St. Petersburg, Florida on the 28th or 29th of January, just before the sustainable packaging design meeting http://bnpevents.com/PS/2007/PD/index.htm. Rita will check out the potential venues and let everyone know.
We discussed informing the packaging SVN, and decided that Amy should make that call.
Our next conference call will be January 4th, 8 am Pacific, 10 am Central, 11 am Eastern.
In summary: We have picked a package to scope, and Rita will be working with everyone separately to develop a generalized flow chart. If they have not already done so, everyone should identify resources before our next conference call, and the face-to-face meeting is set, with Rita to set final details.