News

For the last 4 years, Lifecycles has been calculating the benefit of e-waste recycling for ANZRP and last week we got active cleaning up our office and helping our local charity Redkite to get unused IT equipment back into the economy via e-waste drop off in Clifton Hill. This was done via a borrowed shared car and some tight packaging.

It's international e-waste day, a reminder of the growing global issue that e-waste represents. Our recently published evidence-based report for Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, a collaboration between Lifecycles and Iceni, estimated that in Australia we collectively produce over 520,000 tonnes of e-waste every year.
Read the 'E-product Stewardship in Australia' evidence & executive reports, and be part of the Department's engagement to identify solutions for the better environmental management of Australia’s electrical and electronic equipment.
For the more adventurous, the underlying model developed during the project is also available. We are very proud to have been part of this project and hope that we will be able to keep this model alive by feeding it new information as they arise and to help us keep track of our progress on this issue over time.

PIQET is Lifecycles' own streamlined Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool designed to assess the environmental impacts and resource consumption profiles of different packaging options.
It's designed to be intuitive and easy to use and a complete assessment can be undertaken in less than 30 minutes.
The Food Technology Magazine published an article on "Life Cycle Assessments Guide Sustainability" with a focus on packaging and trialled PIQET in the process.

Tim will be presenting on Day 1 at Powering The Change Conference organized by the Loop Circular Economy Platform. The focus of the presentation will be on how best to measure progress towards a circular economy especially within the context of a manufacturer's individual decision making.
Paul-Antoine Bontinck will also be at the conference to talk to people about how Lifecycles has been using big data sets combined with detailed research to find sustainable pathways to a circular economy in both private and public sector spheres.
Lifecycles is proud to be one of two foundation partners of Loop Circular Economy Platform; a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to instigating change toward a circular economy.

Lifecycles acted as sponsor and attendee at the Melbourne Redkite Corporate Quiz at the Plaza Ballroom. The Redkite Corporate Quiz is a unique and prestigious charity event attended by influential leaders in the business and philanthropic community.

Redkite provides essential support to children and young people with cancer and their families and it has been their focus for over 30 years. They are there throughout the whole cancer journey, from the moment of diagnosis until after treatment finishes. We were very proud to help raise money for such a reputable organisation as Redkite, seeing that they receive no government funding and rely entirely on the generosity of the community to provide these important services.

We are excited to announce that Lifecycles will have a stall in the Australian Pavillion at the ProPak Asia 2019 in Bangkok this year. This is the first time for Lifecycles to attend ProPak Asia and we will be demonstrating the PIQET packaging software.

Tim will be holding a PIQET workshop as well as showcase PIQET in a live demonstration and will also undertake real-time sustainability assessments on packaging solutions which are brought to the stand. The demonstration includes the ability to assess impacts of the full packaging supply chain, including all levels of packaging and the logistical impacts from the product supply chain. The tool also assesses the impacts of product waste including the manufacturing and disposal of damaged or spoiled products in the supply chain. We will also demonstrate new aspects of the tool including product environmental modelling and organisational reporting.

PIQET has a global scope and includes data for 6 Asian regions as well as Europe, the Americas and Oceania. With increased focus on packaging sustainability, we see a growth in the use of sustainable design tools across the region. You can find more information about PIQET on our website.

The 10th biannual ALCAS Conference kicks off in just 30 days!

Bringing together green building designers, product manufacturers and suppliers, industry users of LCAs and EPDs, government, researchers and LCA professionals, to network, learn and debate, the conference is a great opportunity to learn from experts and network with your peers.

SESSION TOPICS COVER A WIDE RANGE OF LCA DEVELOPMENTS:

• Low-embodied impact structures and liveability

• LCA and EPD applications in due diligence and transparency

• Frontiers in LCA

• LCA and corporate sustainability

• Circular Economy

BARCAMP RAMPS UP THE INTERACTION AND INNOVATION

Barcamp will be introduced at the 2019 ALCAS Conference to encourage more interaction and engagement. Every conference participant will have 30 to 60 seconds to propose a topic that he/she would like to discuss during the initial plenary session. Afterwards, the audience will signal interest in the topic. If sufficient interest is available, a time-slot and room will be allocated for the open group discussion. Plus you can earn GBCA CPD points for attendance.

LIFECYCLES SIMAPRO WORKSHOP - BY TIM GRANT

Join Lifecycles and PRé for the SimaPro Workshop on March 4th, on the opening day of the ALCAS Conference 2019. This is an opportunity to network with fellow SimaPro users, get answers from SimaPro experts, and learn about the exciting new SimaPro options.

Life cycle assessment is expanding beyond the LCA expert, and an increasing number of companies are looking for custom tools that can help them easily construct and share LCA models across departments. New SimaPro tools and options deliver more value not only for LCA experts but also for business users. Now you can communicate LCA results to other departments and collect survey data with Share, Collect and Report Maker, as well as scale up the value of your existing tools (for example, calculate GHG emissions) or easily create new tools with SimaPro API.

The session will include live demos of these new tools and options available for SimaPro customers, followed by questions, discussion, and feedback by meeting attendees. This is a unique opportunity to learn about the future plans for the SimaPro software directly from Jori Coustillas, SimaPro Product Owner from PRé Consultants, network with other SimaPro users, and share your ideas and suggestions.

This event only comes around every two years. Don't miss out!

Tim will be proud to speak on evolving indicators for packaging and the circular economy at the much-anticipated 3rd Sustainability in Packaging Europe Conference in Spain. We will also have a stall so please come and see us if you are attending for all you LCA and PIQET needs.

The 2019 Australasian Packaging Innovation & Design Awards (PIDA) has been designed to recognise companies and individuals who are making a significant difference in their field across Australia and New Zealand. The PIDA Awards are coordinated by the Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP) and Packaging New Zealand and are the exclusive feeder program for the prestigious WorldStar Packaging Awards.

Lifecycles would like to congratulate some of our clients who have been nominated

• PACT Group, Plantic Technologies and Woolworths. Congratulations on being a finalist for the category 2019 Sustainable Packaging Design Special Award.

• Plantic Technologies also made it to the finalists of the category 2019 Save Food Packaging Design Special Award.

Read more here.

In March, New Earth B released the fourth version of their Social Hotspot Database (SHDB). The new version features an extended multi-regional input-output model, with 7980 different country-specific sectors across the global economy and updated social data including 14 new indicators for socio-economic assessment. The database allows to assess economic sectors in 140 different countries and regions, providing results for 6 impact categories, 26 impact subcategories and 157 social indicators.

We assisted New Earth B with the implementation of their model in SimaPro so that SHDB licence holders can access the data as a unit and the system process library on the software, and we are very happy to see the results out in the world. This is a timely update, as the recent enforcement of the Modern Slavery Act in Australia will require many businesses to review their supply chain in detail. The SHDB offers a practical way of conducting a hotspot assessment of your supply chain, allowing to target further actions as effectively as possible.

Lifecycles is a distributor of the SHDB Simapro library. You can find more information about SHDB on their website as well as on our website where you will be able to fill in an order form to purchase a SHDB licence and/or service contract.

In March, New Earth B released the fourth version of their Social Hotspot Database (SHDB). The new version features an extended multi-regional input-output model, with 7980 different country-specific sectors across the global economy and updated social data including 14 new indicators for socio-economic assessment. The database allows to assess economic sectors in 140 different countries and regions, providing results for 6 impact categories, 26 impact subcategories and 157 social indicators.

We assisted New Earth B with the implementation of their model in SimaPro so that SHDB licence holders can access the data as a unit and the system process library on the software, and we are very happy to see the results out in the world. This is a timely update, as the recent enforcement of the Modern Slavery Act in Australia will require many businesses to review their supply chain in detail. The SHDB offers a practical way of conducting a hotspot assessment of your supply chain, allowing to target further actions as effectively as possible.

Lifecycles is a distributor of the SHDB Simapro library. You can find more information about SHDB on their website as well as on our website where you will be able to fill in an order form to purchase a SHDB licence and/or service contract.

The Australian input-output database for SimaPro was developed in collaboration with the Industrial Ecology Virtual Laboratory (IELab). Covering a total of 1,177 national sectors of the Australian economy, it is the most disaggregated, input-output database available worldwide. Satellites include a range of greenhouse gas emissions and water use. All monetary data is provided in basic, producer and consumer prices and represent a snapshot of the Australian economy in 2014.

The Industrial Ecology Virtual Laboratory (IELab) is a collaborative platform for multi-region input-output modelling and research. Flexible and scalable, IELab is designed to process and analyse economic, environmental and social data from any sector, country or region. It provides high-resolution, time series creation, automated updating, hybridisation and analytical tools.

Tim will be participating in the a Pellston Workshop®, organised as part of the UN environment Life Cycle Initiative, working on the task force on Ecosystem Services (with focus on soil quality). This workshop will run for 6 days and will support the development of "Global Guidance for Life Cycle Impact Assessment Indicators and Methods" (GLAM), in Valencia, Spain at the end of June 2018.

Due to the importance of soil to most economies there is already a very substantial scientific understanding of soil quality attributes and the impact of different management regimes on attributes. The challenge using this information in the LCA context is partly to deal with the heterogeneity of soil as it is found in the landscape and how to deal with the many local factors which affect soil quality such as farming practice and climate. The tasks will include: Identification of datasets for soil quality models, completing a review of available soil quality models, implementing the selected model(s) in a variety of production systems and geographies, and linking soil function contribution to other impact categories.

The GLAM project aims to create a library of recommended impact assessment factors linked through a global nomenclature system, to improve the consistency and harmonization of LCA studies. Continuing from the successful work on the first batch of impact indicators (climate change, water use, particulate matter, land use impacts on biodiversity), GLAM is currently working on the consensus building related to: acidification & eutrophication; eco-toxicity; human toxicity; mineral primary resources; ecosystem services (focus on soil quality); and crosscutting issues.

The Life Cycle Initiative is a public-private, multi-stakeholder partnership enabling the global use of credible life cycle knowledge by private and public decision makers. Hosted by UN Environment, the Life Cycle Initiative is at the interface between users and experts of Life Cycle approaches. It provides a global forum to ensure a science-based, consensus-building process to support decisions and policies towards the shared vision of sustainability as a public good. The Initiative facilitates the application of life cycle knowledge in the global sustainable development agenda in order to achieve global goals faster and more efficiently.

The AIP conference on the Gold Coast was an exciting event, showcasing packaging innovations and advancing discussion on sustainability and the circular economy. The PIQET stall was well-attended by current and prospective users and after all the hard work that has gone into it, Tim was proud to showcase the new product tool features in PIQET.

Tim spoke on the second day of the conference on new metrics for packaging sustainability in the circular economy, focusing on how the full, system-wide impacts of packaging can be assessed when looking at package and product system design.

Tim can't wait to catch up with some of our US clients, such as Westrock and Sonoco, when we exhibit PIQET at this year's Sustainability in Packaging conference. We're always excited about opportunities to showcase our Easy-to-Use Tool for Comparing the Environmental Impacts of Packaging Designs, to companies looking to partner with us on their sustainability journey.

Find out more about PIQET here.

Lifecycles is proud to be one of two foundation partners of Loop Circular Economy Platform; a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to instigating change toward a circular economy.

Founded in 2017 by Jodie Bricout and Melissa Miller, Loop garnered support among a cross-section of local, national and international organisations across government, business and academia to present Powering the change to a circular economy, Australia’s first conference dedicated to circular economy in Tonsley’s Innovation District in Adelaide.

Through the collaborative efforts and complementary skills of Lifecycles and CSIRO, we have been able to ensure market access for the 2017 and on-going canola crops, to the lucrative EU biofuel market. This market pays a premium for canola, worth close to $100 million in additional income annually for Australian farmers.

In 2015-16 Australia exported 1,946 kt of canola of which 91% went to the European Union (EU). Exports to the EU in 2015-16 were worth approximately A$850 million. Exported canola to the EU, for use in biodiesel, needs to meet the requirements of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) for the biodiesel market. This issue was first recognised by the industry in 2015 and they responded (through AOF and AEGIC) by organising a national workshop to explore what response was needed on behalf of the industry. Subsequently both AEGIC and individual grain traders (through AOF) provided funds to support the study undertaken by CSIRO and Lifecycles.

Up until January 2018, biodiesel seed stock must demonstrate a 35% greenhouse gas (GHG) saving compared to fossil fuel, to be accepted in EU market and in the past Australian canola automatically met this target (as a default value of 38% savings in GHG emissions applies to canola).

From January 2018 onwards, Australia can no longer rely on this default value as the EU has introduced an emission saving threshold of 50%. This new GHG savings target applies to the crop planted in autumn of 2017, due to be harvested in November 2017 and shipped to Europe in early 2018.

The EU requirement is for an independent science organisation, within each exporting country, to prepare a Country Report on the GHG emissions associated with the production of biofuel feedstock. These figures are used by grain traders to determine if canola from a particular source will allow the supply chain participants to deliver fuel to the consumer, below the target GHG savings cap. Australian Oilseed Federation and AEGIC sought national expertise to address this issue in late 2015. CSIRO’s response was to bring our expertise in Life Cycle Assessment and national impact assessment to a project partnership, with Lifecycls, that could deliver the science standing and rigor required.

Working in consultation with an industry Steering Committee, CSIRO designed the study needed to meet RED methodology requirements and gathered the data required, while Lifecycles built, tested and implemented a framework to generate estimates of the GHG emissions associated with the growing of canola in each Australian State. This involved the evaluation of many combinations of geographical scale and data sources, while working within the requirements of the RED and to ensure consistency with Australia’s GHG National Inventory Report. The final figures for Australian canola were such that our grain is highly competitive internationally, from a GHG perspective, due to our dryland, low-tillage systems.

After extensive review within Australia and by two European agencies, the resultant Australian Country Report for GHG Emissions for Canola was submitted to the European Commission in August 2016. The report was returned to CSIRO in March 2017 with comments from an internal EU reviewer. Knowing the urgency and importance of this report we (CSIRO and Lifecycles) responded and resubmitted the report within 3 days.

Since that time Sandra Eady has liaised with industry, Federal Department of Agriculture advisors, and Australian DFAT trade officials in Brussels to bring about a timely acceptance of the report so that grain traders could commence forward contracting sales of Australian canola. AOF and AEGIC also contributed to the lobbying in Brussels providing our trade officials with on the ground information about how the lack of data was impacting forward grain sales in late 2017. This has required continual reiteration with Australian officials of the importance to Australian farmers, building an understanding by our trade officials of the consequences of the report not being accepted by late 2017, and pushing to get an interim endorsement of the Australian figures by DG Energy, EC, prior to the Final Implementing Act of the European Commission that was scheduled for December 2017.

The Australian Country Report for GHG Emissions for Canola has set the benchmark for non-EU States, with two other major suppliers into the EU – Canada and Croatia, having their reports returned for further work and revision. Only the Australian Report will go forward for implementation in December 2017.

This achievement not only ensures on-going market access, but also puts Australian canola growers in a highly competitive position for this season’s grain supply.

The 2017 ALCAS Symposium (in conjunction with IELab) was held at North Stradbroke Island in Queensland in November. The LCA symposium highlighted advancements in LCA theory and practice in Australia.

The conference brought together the two branches of LCA - environmental extended input output (EEIO) LCA and bottom up unit process LCA. Lifecycles' Tim Grant (also ALCAS' secretary), Brett Sharma and our resident PhD student Roihatai Kaewmai were all in attendance.

Participants got to see a wide variety of research and commercial applications of LCA. There were presentations from students and LCA professionals across different sectors and topics, including transport, buildings, agriculture and food. There were also examples of innovative approaches to combine EEIO with AusLCI in hybrid LCA models.

Barney Foran challenged conference delegates in his opening and closing keynotes to answer the big picture questions on sustainability, in particular those relating to the problems of consumption in modern day economies.

Lifecycles was proud to be a gold sponsor of Australia’s first conference entirely dedicated to the circular economy. 200 professionals from 9 countries, and every Australian state and territory, came together from November 15-17 at the Tonsley Innovation District in Adelaide, to collaborate and discuss how the circular economy can be and is being implemented.

Lifecycles’ director Tim Grant drew on his extensive experience working with companies, governments and not-for-profits in life cycle assessment, to speak about practical and effective forms of measurement that apply to the circular economy in the session: “Evaluation and metrics: navigating a brave new world”. He also provided a vision for a major growth sector for Australian agriculture in the breakfast session “Harvesting the bioeconomy”.

Our circular economy manager Jodie Bricout led the conference organisation team with her not-for-profit Loop Circular Economy Platform, of which Lifecycles is a foundation partner.

Over 30 of the Powering the change to a circular economy speakers took part in a conversation series recorded especially for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Disruptive Innovation Festival (DIF). These snippets provide a glimpse into what the circular economy could look like in Australia, covering topics from entrepreneurial innovation, the bioeconomy and urban mining to water cycles, risk to industry 4.0 and more. You can see the videos here.

Carbon Neutral Adelaide is the Adelaide community’s shared ambition to work together and make the City of Adelaide the world’s first carbon neutral city. Their goal: to rapidly reduce their carbon emissions and build on their international reputation as a city that is green, liveable, smart and creative.

Being specialists in life cycle assessment, a method that calculates carbon footprint as well as other environmental impacts, Lifecycles are a natural fit for being part of Adelaide’s efforts to go carbon neutral. We're proud to be helping make Adelaide the world’s first carbon neutral city.

Regarding our own carbon emissions, in South Australia we operate out of shared facilities in the Tonsley innovation district. By sharing the space and its resources with other tenants, we also share the carbon footprint, tapping into commonly under-utilised assets. Our Victorian office in Fitzroy was selected for its use of natural light and has been retrofitted with compact fluorescent lightbulbs. Virtualisation is also key in keeping our emissions down. Servicing clients across the globe and participating in global consensus-building in the science of life cycle assessment online, reduces travel and keeps our paper trail to a minimum.

On Thursday the 17th of August, our Jodie Bricout was in Canberra for the official launch of ANZRP’s White Paper in response to the current review of the Product Stewardship Act 2011.

The White Paper, which can be viewed here, outlines how ANZRP believes current legislation can be improved to create better recycling practices in Australia. The Australia and New Zealand Recycling Platform (ANZRP) is a not-for-profit, industry-for-industry, Government-approved Co-regulatory Arrangement operating the TechCollect program under the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme (NTCRS).

In 2016 ANZRP engaged Lifecycles to calculate the average carbon footprint value for recycling one tonne of mixed television and computer waste using life cycle assessment methodology. The assessment included emissions associated with the collecting, recycling and the downstream processing of e-waste and the benefits associated with avoiding the production of virgin materials. It was found that when ANZRP recycles one tonne of e-waste this resulted in a saving of 981 kgCo2e emissions. The Co2 burden associated with collecting, recycling and processing e-waste is entirely offset by the benefits associated with avoiding the production of virgin materials: in particular iron, aluminium, copper and platinum group metals.

We are proud to have these figures mentioned on page 3 of the White Paper and to be associated with the ANZRP, which through the NTCRS, has to date made more than 1,800 collection services available free to the public, and collected and recycled more than 200,000 tonnes of TV and computer e-waste.

To optimise environmental performance, you first need an optimal tool to measure environmental impact. Users of PIQET 4.0 regularly experience the benefits of our commitment to adding new features, which continue to make our tool the most intuitive and user-friendly packaging sustainability assessment tool on the market.

Our latest 'meters' innovation and our plans to switch our dataset to ecoinvent 3, the world's most consistent, transparent and continuously updated life cycle inventory database, are just the latest enhancements designed to provide our clients with a fuss-free way to optimise the environmental performance of their packaging designs.

For more information, visit PIQET.

On the back of a successful SustPack in Arizona this year, Tim will be jetting to Spain to connect with our European clients and partners, at this year's Sustainability in Packaging Europe conference. The conference will take place from 24 - 26 October, in Barcelona, Spain. Conference attendees look out for our free trial offer.

Following the launch of the groundbreaking Creating Value: the Potential Benefits of a Circular Economy in South Australia report, the Tonsley Innovation Precinct in Adelaide will host Powering the change, the first Australasian conference entirely dedicated to the challenges of implementing the circular economy.

Through keynotes, panel sessions, networking events and workshops, the powering the change to a circular economy conference will connect and engage participants across disciplines, industries and sectors. Our end goal? To form valuable partnerships to collaboratively build momentum and power the change to a circular economy.

ANZRP's Annual Report provides information about the company’s collection and recycling activities under the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme for the period 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016.

ANZRP engaged Lifecycles to calculate the average carbon footprint value for the recycling of one tonne of mixed television and computer waste using the life cycle assessment methodology. The goal of this project was to quantify an average carbon footprint value for the recycling of a tonne of mixed television and computer waste managed by ANZRP, for inclusion in their annual report. It involved modelling the emissions associated with ANZRP's collection chain throughout inner regional, metropolitan, outer regional and remote regions in Australia right through to resource recovery of the different waste fractions, from plastic and glass through to a variety of metals.

It was found that when ANZRP recycles one tonne of e-waste this resulted in a saving of 981 kgCO2e emissions. In 2015/16 this equated to avoiding 23,012 tCO2e emissions (on the basis of 23,458 tonnes of e-waste being recycled by ANZRP). Lifecycles found that the CO2 burden associated with collecting, recycling and processing the e-waste is entirely offset by the benefits associated with avoiding the production of virgin materials: in particular, iron, aluminium, copper and platinum group metals. This carbon footprint will provide a baseline for improvement and an opportunity to engage with our Members and other stakeholders on improving environmental performance.

If you want to improve the environmental impact of your company or product, you have to understand it first. Sounds simple, but calculating life cycle impacts is traditionally a complex and costly exercise.

We at lifecycles are working hard to make sure Australian businesses can use life cycle assessment (LCA) to their advantage. We have been training LCA specialists for years now, but there was nothing available for managers or packaging designers that want to use life cycle information without delving into complex modelling systems.

Starting in May in Fitzroy, this comprehensive training is designed specifically for managers and others who need to get to grips with complex life cycles concepts so they can put them to work in their business or organisation.

After completing this course,

• designers and manufacturers will have a deep understanding of how life cycle assessment tools work, and how to improve the impact of their products across their life

• purchasers and product specifiers will be able to make informed decisions on inputs they are sourcing and reduce supply chain risk

• managers who outsource life cycle assessments will get a deep understanding of the tools and results of their life cycle assessment (LCA) and how to communicate them to different audiences

• sustainability managers will learn how to hone in on material environmental issues and track the real impact of their programs.

But it’s more than a course. Each participant will be guided through a three-month work-related project (after the face-to-face training in Fitzroy, Melbourne), by lifecycles’ trainers who work with the best data and tools every day. This is an opportunity to bring a problem or project to the table and learn-as-you-tackle the issue with specialists. Not only do you advance your skills, but you undertake a work project at the same time and you can drill down on the questions that concern you with expert support.

We prefer to train our clients up rather than only providing consulting support- tt’s the same reason why we have invested so heavily in redeveloping our streamlined LCA software for the packaging industry – PIQET. LCA needs to be easier for businesses if we want it to be a relevant decision making tool.

This is the first time this training has been offered in Australia, and there will even be the opportunity to achieve accreditation and become a certified life cycle executive with both the American and Australian life cycle societies.

We are pleased to announce that our own Jodie Bricout is Australia's first certified life cycle executive. The Certification as Lifecycle Executive (CLE) was developed by American Center for Life Cycle Assessment (ACLCA) in conformity with the ISO 17024 standard and demonstrates that the individual understands the basics of LCA, and can interpret and communicate LCA results to the general public.

The Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society (ALCAS) developed a partnership with ACLCA in 2016 to bring their certification to Australia, and Jodie was the first to take the exam in March 2017.

Starting in May, Lifecycles is offering comprehensive training designed specifically for managers and others who need to get to grips with complex life cycles concepts so they can put them to work in their business or organisation. Trainees can opt in for CLE certification at the completion of the training if they wish.

Green Industries SA engaged Lifecycles, EconSearch, Colby Industries and the University of Queensland to analyse the potenital benefits of a circular economy to South Australia, in terms of jobs, greenhouse gas emissions and energy use. We are looking forward to presenting the results of the study to you very soon, but in the meantime South Australia's Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation Ian Hunter has anounced the formal establishment of Green Industries SA today.

Green Industries builds on the valuable work of Zero Waste SA to maximise resource recovery opportunities, create jobs and improve the environment. A new focus will be the promotion of the circular economy, which encourages materials to be used efficiently and kept circulating for as long as possible, providing increased opportunities for remanufacturing, repair and reprocessing in the State and the jobs arising from that. The establishment of Green Industries SA comes as we celebrate the 40th year of South Australia’s iconic container-deposit legislation in place since 1977.

Not to brag, but Lifecycles had a particularly huge year in 2016.

• We opened up an office at the Tonsley Innovation Precinct in (r)Adelaide, and welcomed Jodie Bricout to the team

• We moved into a bigger and better HQ

• We held three Ninja Training courses in Melbourne and Adelaide

• We worked on amazing projects on circular economy, e-waste recycling, biofuels, paper, bio-plastics and more

• We purchased the world leading packaging LCA software PIQET

• We contributed actively to the Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society (ALCAS), the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative and the Forum for Sustainability through Life Cycle Innovation (FSLCI) We changed our branding, logo and name, and liked it so much we made cupcakes to celebrate

2017 is set to be even bigger and we can't wait to share what we are working on with our partners!

The Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries with support from Lifecycles is currently working with a number of sugarcane growers in the Wet Tropics to evaluate the economic and environmental impact of the Smartcane BMP program, via an SRA-funded research project. The project will be conducted as a series of case studies depicting farms before and after BMP adoption. The first of these case studies, featuring the Salmec growing enterprise in the Far North, is available online. In the case study, growers Mark Savina and Mick Andrejic explain how a series of changes over five years have had a positive impact on the business’s bottom-line.

The transition to BMP, which began in 2008, has resulted in:

• Annual improvement in farm operating return of $150/ha ($124,500/yr total)

• 124kg less pesticide active ingredients and 1 tonne less nitrogen lost to waterways annually

• Annual fossil fuel use reduced by 15 per cent (or 25 tonnes of fuel over the cane life cycle)

• Greenhouse gas emissions reduced by 19 per cent annually (equivalent to taking 47 cars off the road each year)

Read the full case study here.

To get 2017 off to a big start, we have rolled out the new PIQET with all our global customers. We're getting great feedback on the streamlined interface which has made developing streamlined LCAs of different packaging options much quicker and easier. The new customisation features are also saving time and increasing consistency, especially for global companies who can set up modules for their materials, conversion processes and logistic routes.

The objective of this group is to get a shared understanding of soil quality issues and indicators in LCA, and to form an informal network of relevant researchers and organisations on this topic. It started as a joint initiative of CIRAD (France), CSIRO (Australia), Agroscope (Switzerland), Joint Research Centre (European Commission) and Lifecycles (Australia).

The 2nd workshop of the Soil Quality Indicators in Life Cycle Assessment Consensus Group was held in Dublin 18th of October 2016 in conjunction with the LCA pesticide consensus group. The workshop looked at a broad range of soil quality models and a review of these it’s been undertaken by the European Union. A set of task groups were established to progress the work over the next 18 months as part of the UNEP/SETAC life-cycle initiative Task group 1B on development of consensus characterisation factors for LCA.

The workshop report can be downloaded here. The first international workshop on soil quality indicators in LCA was held on 30th August 2015 in Bordeaux, as a side event of the LCM conference 2015.

This month we had a great strategy session with everyone's favorite purveyors of fine toilet paper who gives a crap. Their business model is already fabulous, donating 50% of their profits to building toilets to those in need in partnership with WaterAid. But they really want to walk the talk- which is why they are digging deep to understand the environmental impacts of their products, which come from recycled paper, bamboo and sugar cane by-products.

We wanted to say a big thanks for delivering oodles of toilet paper and tissue to our new offices. We'll never be in need again!

Over the past decade, PIQET has provided the consumer goods industry with credible, independent and affordable access to life cycle information to evaluate the environmental impacts of packaging.

After taking over ownership of PIQET in April 2016, lifecycles is excited to launch the new PIQET in London this week at the Museum of Brands. The new interface not only makes it quicker and easier to use, but includes new functionality such as the ability to model complex logistics chains and product waste.

From the beauty and beverage industry, to educational facilities and package companies, fifteen volunteer testers are busy providing their insight on PIQET 4. So far the feedback is clear: the new PIQET is better than ever.