Ecodesign: Philibert Savours opts for life cycle analysis to evaluate the environmental impact of its packaging

Philibert Savours is committed to reducing the environmental impact of its packaging. The company chose the CTCPA to carry out the study of the life cycle analysis of its new packaging (flexible bag), this study was financially supported by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the framework of its aid for the advice in favour of the AURA IAA. Annabelle VERA, Head of the Philibert Savours R&D Institute, talks to us about this project.

"The CTCPA has both the materials expertise thanks to its Packaging team and the LCA expertise thanks to its team dedicated to Sustainable Development, which allows for a complete multi-criteria study."

Philibert Savours: leader in the design, production and marketing of liquid and dehydrated sourdoughs

Philibert Savours is a family business, founded in 1984 by the Philibert family. As a French manufacturer of sourdoughs and ingredients for the bakery, pastry, viennoiserie, chocolate-ice cream and catering sectors, Philibert Savours is committed to its mission of "Better nutrition while respecting man and nature".

Our mission is both societal and organizational: all our choices, our supply chains, our products, but also our internal structure and our work environment respect our mission. Philibert Savours is thus committed to the actors of the sector on 3 levels: environmental, societal and social.

At Philibert Savours, we focus on the essential: to produce, think and build differently and better for the planet, mankind and nature: a guideline that is both demanding and above all exciting. This is formalized by sourdoughs and 100% natural products that we have been making for over 35 years in partnership with farmers and millers in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.

We also recycle our biowaste into animal feed or land application, invest in new packaging lines to reduce the use of plastic and our environmental impact, reintroduce forgotten grains in our region and much more...

This requirement is daily and requires constant innovation in order to develop new products that will create new virtuous production practices or eliminate others that seemed impossible until now. This requirement, this conviction, is our way of working, it opens an incredible field of possibilities!

In what context did you call upon the CTCPA? What was your need( s)?


As part of our CSR policy, we have started a real eco-design dynamics of our products. In 2019 after several R&D works, we drastically changed our packaging type from bucket and canister to a simple flexible pouch for our liquid products. After 1 year of implementation, we needed to to know the environmental impact of this change of packaging From the production of the packaging materials to their end of life (destruction / recycling), including the various transports from our suppliers to our customers.

By entrusting this study to the CTCPA, we were able to obtain factual and comprehensive data to quantify the positive impact on the environment and identify avenues for improvement.



Why did you choose the CTCPA for the realization of a life cycle analysis of packaging?

We have been working with the CTCPA for many years (collaborative research projects, study services...), we know the teams and the quality of their work, it is quite natural that we called upon them. The CTCPA has both the materials expertise thanks to its Packaging team and the LCA expertise thanks to its team dedicated to Sustainable Development, which allows to have a complete multicriteria study.

The CTCPA is also part of our professional network of proximity, our headquarters and our factory being located in the same department as the CTCPA of Bourg-en-Bresse. It is our reference and privileged structure in the field of packaging.

Finally this study was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region as part of its assistance for specific advice to the food industry. This allowed us to approach the subject in a more comprehensive way and to broaden to more eco-responsible alternative materials. All the elements were there to work together.



How did the support go? What is your assessment of it?

The support was fluid with the teams and took place in project mode.

First, we defined our expectations, the specifications, the schedule and the deliverables with the CTCPA teams.

At the beginning of the project, we exchanged a lot with the CTCPA to collect data and select the most relevant environmental indicators for the study. We made regular progress reports to adjust the information and the desired data. In all the project lasted 6 months.

We obtained a complete report that corresponded to our expectations. We also greatly appreciated the dynamism, availability and agility of the CTCPA to adapt its work to our questions. Not only did we benefit from a Multi-criteria LCA (water use, eutrophication, climate change...) but also from a more global approach by type of damage (human health, ecosystems, resources).

This study allowed us to quantify precisely the environmental benefits of our packaging change and confirmed that we made the right choice! We have succeeded in significantly reducing the environmental impact of our packaging. Alternative solutions have also been evaluated to optimize our current practices and identify longer term improvements.

What are your next milestones in your environmental approach?

In 2021, Philibert Savours was awarded the "France Relance" plan, which rewards companies that actively participate in the ecological transition of the agri-food sector. This grant should enable us to finance the construction of a new production site. A true factory of the future, this site will be remarkable from a societal, digital, environmental, energy and organizational point of view.

By 2025, our ambition is for our packaging to be 100% recyclable.

 

CONTACT PHILIBERT SAVOURS

• Website - Facebook - Linkedin - Youtube


• Annabelle VERA, R&D Manager - a.vera@philibertsavours.com


• Eurydice JUPIN, Communication Manager - e.jupin@philibertsavours.com

CONTACT CTCPA

• CTCPA Bourg-en-Bresse : bourg@ctcpa.org


• CTCPA Auch : auch@ctcpa.org


• Pauline AUDOYE, Environment Project Manager - paudoye@ctcpa.org


• Laura FARRANT, Environment Project Manager - lfarrant@ctcpa.org


• David ALLAIN, Director of CTCPA Emballages (Bourg-en-Bresse) - dallain@ctcpa.org

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The CTCPA environment team is an expert in theLife Cycle Analysis. It allows to quantify the environmental impacts of a product, a packaging, a process or a service, taking into account the incoming and outgoing flows on the whole life cycle. It relies on the technical skills of the CTCPA's packaging department, made up of experts capable of providing concrete information and solutions (characterization of functionalities, choice of packaging alternatives, etc.)

Over the past 10 years, we have developed targeted skills and methodologies, in particular through our participation in research programs and the support of numerous companies in their environmental assessment processes. LCA is a standardized method that follows the ISO 14 040 to ISO 14 044 standards. The CTCPA is a licensee of the LCA software Simapro and MEANS In-Out