2. Table of Contents
1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 4
2 Defining goal and scope for LCA............................................................................................ 4
2.1 Analyzing the Difference between the Existing Product and Our New and Improved
Version........................................................................................................................................ 4
2.2 Raw Materials and Their Preparation............................................................................... 5
2.3 Transportation .................................................................................................................. 9
2.4 Manufacture and assembly............................................................................................. 11
2.5 Use Phase ....................................................................................................................... 11
3 Interpretation & Conclusion.................................................................................................. 12
4 Environmental Policies and Laws ......................................................................................... 13
5 Conclusion............................................................................................................................. 13
6 Recommendations ................................................................................................................. 14
7 Summary................................................................................................................................ 14
8 References ............................................................................................................................. 15
3. List of Figures
Figure 1 Major sources of the pen's total emissions over its lifetime............................................. 5
Figure 2 Description picture of the BIC pen................................................................................... 6
Figure 3 LCA comparison of different material for CO2............................................................... 7
Figure 4 Water LCA comparison of various materials................................................................... 8
Figure 5 a) CO2 emissions redistribution in the transportation sector b) VOC (Volatile Organic
Compound) redistribution for airborne transport.......................................................................... 10
Figure 6 Logistics and environmental impacts............................................................................ 11
4. 1 Introduction
Our objective is to develop a more environmentally friendly version of a standard promotional
item: a cheap bic pen. By "greener," we mean an iteration that drastically reduces emissions
during the pen's entire lifespan. We went out in search of a method that would be both practical
and economical. We are basing our assumption on the fact that the pen would be used in Finland,
and that it will be a generic inexpensive pen mostly used for writing. This report will detail the
changes made to the product, the rationale behind those changes, and the reduction in the
product's negative effects.
A bic pen's usefulness is measured in terms of the number of years it may be used. Given that it
is possible that the pen will be misplaced or the ink would dry out just before its computational
large volume of text is achieved, we decided to use the particular function of a lifetime rather
than metres written or drawn. This suggests that people live less long on average than they would
want (Adam et al., 2008).
2 Defining goal and scope for LCA
2.1 Analyzing the Difference between the Existing Product and Our New and
Improved Version
The first step is to figure out which aspects of the lifecycle are the most consequential. In
addition, we investigated the most crucial impacts over the whole life cycle. Each subsection
explains a different restriction placed on the system. The categories of eutrophication, climate
change potential, water intake, eco-toxicity, and acidification are evaluated using the BEES+
evaluation framework. As can be seen in Figure 2, plastic components have the greatest effect
across the board. The vast portion of the pen is made of plastic. There is a lot of concern about
the environmental impact of glass containers, which are used as part of the shipping packaging
for the pens but have nothing to with the pens themselves (Alamilla et al., 2013).
5. Figure 1 Major sources of the pen's total emissions over its lifetime
2.2 Raw Materials and Their Preparation
Materials include 1.35g of polypropylene, 3.4g of polystyrene, 0.2g of ethanol as that of the
primary ink component, 0.05g of the tungsten carbide (tungsten 0.047g as well as carbon 0.003g)
(3), and 0.2g of brass (assumed to be 35% zinc, 65% copper, translating to 0.13g of copper and
0.07g of zinc). Since it is difficult to determine the exact zinc content of our product without
6. doing extensive chemical testing, we will guess that it is between 39% and 40%, as this is the
range in which brass begins to lose some of its ductility. Materials may be seen in Figure 2.
Figure 2 Description picture of the BIC pen
Due to data constraints, Open LCA approximated ethanol emissions using ethene and tungsten
emissions using steel. Since ethene is the nearest readily accessible alcohol, it was selected.
Steel, made from carbon and iron, is a metal similar tungsten, and hence provides at least a rough
estimate of the environmental consequences of metals. We didn't include zinc since its use in
open LCA would result in absurdly huge impacts—a factor of one thousand times the effect of
aluminum—that we determined were implausible based on a comparison to the average energy
intensiveness of the dataset. It is reasonable to exclude the little amount of zinc because it was
not shown to be a major source of environmental concerns when calculated manually.
And the materials used for the packaging were also considered. These pens are offered singly
and come in cases containing around 500 units. With a team member's measured weight of a
standard cardboard box coming up at 200 grammes, we find that 0.04 grammes of packaging
material is required to ship each pen. We found the effect to be minimal, therefore we used the
same packaging for the environmentally friendly option (Bgler et al., 2008).
7. Polystyrene was the primary contributor to emissions in the baseline LCA (barrel). Not being
recycled frequently makes it difficult to enhance its effectiveness. In the end, after weighing our
choices, we decided to switch to aluminium. We calculated the required weight for the
aluminium barrel using the density of aluminium (2.7g/cm3) and polystyrene (1.05g/cm3) to
ensure that the pen's overall profile would remain same despite the increase in material.
Aluminum is about 100 percent recyclable, keeps its high quality even after being reprocessed,
and lasts for a long time. Both materials are quite inexpensive; polystyrene costs around 1017
Euro per ton, whereas aluminium costs about 1826 Euro per ton. When compared to producing
new aluminium from scratch, energy consumption and emissions through recycling may be
reduced by as much as 95%. Polypropylene, the other common plastic, may be recycled with as
much as a 50% gain in energy efficiency. These are the only materials used in our
environmentally friendly product. As can be seen in Figures 3 and 4, the raw materials
themselves create both CO2 emissions and negative consequences (water usage). While research
into SO2 and NOx emissions was conducted, the results are not depicted because they mirror
those for CO2. The first bar in each figure indicates the starting point. A second aluminum-
barreled version of the product is seen in the third bar. The results of employing recycled
aluminium and polypropylene are depicted by the third and fourth bars. The combined effect of
these two recycled materials is displayed in the fifth bar.
Figure 3 LCA comparison of different material for CO2
8. Figure 4 Water LCA comparison of various materials
The graphs show that whereas virgin aluminium has a greater impact on the number of
greenhouse gases released, this is greatly reduced when recycled, making it the best option; this,
along with the minor advantages of recycling polypropylene, results in our pen having a smaller
impact on the environment across the 4 most important categories.
We also considered switching to aluminium for the metal components, but the brass as well as
tungsten ones are essential for withstanding the force that is applied to them. In light of this
information and the knowledge that perhaps the modulus of elasticity of aluminium, brass, as
well as tungsten are 68.3 Gpa, 117 Gpa, and 400 Gpa, respectively, we concluded that
aluminium could be too brittle for such a job. In this way, the metal components will be
preserved (Feraru et al., 2014).
LCA was used to evaluate the ink's impact on the natural world, as well. Carbon black as well as
cobalt are only a couple of the many harmful and resource-intensive ingredients in the ink.
Specifically, we looked at the ink. An inkless pen is the first choice. Ink has been replaced by
metal and metal therein. There's no need to sharpen the point, and there's an infinite supply.
Therefore, it is a viable alternative to disposable plastic pens. However, the cost of these
9. environmentally friendly pens is up to three times that of the standard option. As a result, we
came to the conclusion that this was not practical for our target audience. Soy-based ink is a
second possibility. In comparison to ethanol ink derived from petroleum, this is made from soy.
Keeping the ink's essential properties ensured that pens could be utilized and wouldn't dry out
too rapidly. The fact that it has to be shipped from a great distance Our life cycle assessment
showed that compared to traditional ink, this was a better solution for the environment without
breaking the bank. We considered making its ink tube removable, but decided against it since we
figured customers would receive these kinds of pens frequently and wouldn't want to spend
money to replace their ink (Gorziza et al., 2019).
2.3 Transportation
BIC pens are shipped through sea and road freight. Searoute.com was used to get all of the
distances. Transport of raw materials is factored into the emissions category in OpenLCA. In
order to get pens to Finland, we had to think about two different types of shipping: sending over
the raw materials to be turned into pens, and sending over the finished pens themselves.
It is important to note that the United States is the world's greatest oil producer, and that plastics
as well as ethanol are often created from oil (although they may be made from other resources as
well). The trucking or shipping distance between Dallas (where Exxon Mobil is headquartered)
and Paris (where BIC is headquartered) is 4459 kilometres or 2417 nautical miles. The majority
of the world's metals are mined but also processed in China, and it was determined that it would
take a truck 10289 kilometres to go from Xiangyang (the average city between significant copper
and zinc mines) to Paris (Hunkeler, 2016).
It is believed that the final destination for the manufactured good would be Finland, therefore the
trip between Paris as well as Helsinki, a distance of 2,957 kilometres, will be covered by a fleet
of trucks. Since BIC exclusively sells to shops, they have little control over the emissions caused
by customers acquiring the goods, including such driving to the market or shipping office
equipment to their firm. After being utilised, pens are trucked the 20 kilometres to Vantaan
Energia, where they are incinerated (Jentoft, 2013).
10. A 40-ton truck was employed for this LCA, and the weight of the cargo was 27 tons. It's easy to
calculate that each truck can hold 300,000 pens. Knowing that a single pen weighs 5.2 g, this
value was translated to mass and applied in the appropriate places.
Figure 5 a) CO2 emissions redistribution in the transportation sector b) VOC (Volatile Organic
Compound) redistribution for airborne transport.
According to LCA, vehicles' carbon dioxide emissions are the biggest environmental problem
they cause. As a result of their reliance on Lorries for longer journeys, the vast majority of
pollution can be traced back to these vehicles. When it comes to transportation, life-cycle
assessment (LCA) data demonstrates that other environmental implications are minimal. Figure
5b shows an example, with VOC emissions below 1010. The impact of transportation is
negligible compared to that of raw materials. However, there are still avenues open for cutting it
down to size.
Trains should be used instead of vehicles.
Produce components using resources located near to the factory. In France, not far from
Lyon, there is a recycling as well as refining facility where one may obtain plastic. With
their expertise, polypropylene may be refined into pellets and granules for reuse. This
eliminates the need for shipping, which helps to drastically cut down on pollution.
Considering the switch from polystyrene to aluminium, the French company Trimet
Aluminium is one potential supplier.
Used pens are shipped to a plastic reprocessing as well as refining plant in Riihimäki,
Finland (20), which is about 70 kilometres from Helsinki.
11. For Europe's competitiveness, environmental, social, economic, as well as strategic
considerations, it is important to: Mine metals in Europe.
In Finland, in the Kevitsa copper mine.
Boliden Tara, an Irish zinc mine.
Los Santos Mine, Spain, is a tungsten mine.
If we consider all of these modifications, we can see in Figure 6 that our green BIC pen's CO2
transport emissions are reduced by a whopping 63% (Ji et al., 2018).
Figure 6 Logistics and environmental impacts
2.4 Manufacture and assembly
Since estimates of life cycle emissions are not available in the Open LCA public databases,
manufacturing and assembly impacts were approximated with energy use. It was calculated that
40 MJ per kilogram of metal is needed for production and assembly, but only 10 MJ a kg of
plastic is needed. When compared to other impacts, neither the original nor the eco-friendly
variant showed any noteworthy results (Schneider et al., 2009).
2.5 Use Phase
No chemicals or other materials than ink are leaked during use. Our calculations suggest that the
pen has a mere 0.02 grammes of ink at most. Finland typically either incinerates or recycles used
12. drawing paper. To be reused, the pulp must first be cleaned of the ink. It's safe to say that 0.2 g
of ink won't make a noticeable difference in either scenario. In addition, we are not assessing
emissions produced during the usage phase because this is beyond the purpose of our research.
Since the usage phase is outside of our remit, no adjustments need to be made for the
environmentally friendly variant. In Finland, with very few exceptions, all municipal trash is
incinerated. Now, people only have two options when it comes to plastic: recycle it or burn it.
Since the pen's many components are not easily detachable, we are treating the existing product
as if it were destined for the general trash heap rather than being recycled. According to the
LCA, there are considerable eco-toxicity, eutrophication, and acidification consequences from
the burning operations, particularly the combustion of the plastic. Although energy is produced
in the process, recycling plastic rather of burning it would result in a net savings. Recycled
plastic has an impact on the environment of 25–75% relative to virgin plastic as well as up to
95% compared to aluminium, even after accounting for the energy required in the recycling
process. As a result, our eco-pen places a premium on its capacity to be recycled. As a result of
the prevalence of metal recycling facilities, aluminium can be recycled repeatedly without
degrading. The pen may be disassembled easily into its component pieces; the metal can be
recycled. In the section devoted to raw materials, the energy conserved by recycling is taken into
account: Despite the energy required for recycling, it is still possible to reduce emissions by 95%
when compared to when utilising fresh aluminium.
3 Interpretation & Conclusion
So, in conclusion, our eco-friendly pen will be much more eco-friendly. When all of the
upgrades are added together, our eco-friendly bic pen results in a 50 percent reduction in
emissions. As discussed above, it will have recycled aluminium used in lieu of polystyrene, and
recycled polypropylene used in place of polystyrene. To replace the traditional ink, a soy-based
ink mix is used. There will be a shift in the way transportation operates as well. By separating the
components, the product may be recycled more simply. Making a product more eco-friendly
doesn't change how it's used or what it looks like to consumers, except from maybe adding a
little bit of weight, therefore there's no downside to doing so beyond the positive effect on the
product's brand image.
13. The eco-friendly variant is a tribute to recycling, or the practice of reusing processed materials
that have already found widespread use across the world rather than constantly creating new
products from scratch, which wastes valuable resources. With our plan, you can rest assured that
it is based on hard data and capable of accurately on how to enhance the current pen design. The
approach is more practical and inexpensive than alternatives, so it can be adopted quickly and
will have the most positive impact on our environment.
4 Environmental Policies and Laws
It is necessary to have environmental policies since environmental principles are rarely taken
into account throughout the decision-making process inside most organisations. Two key factors
account for its exclusion. To begin, environmental consequences are examples of economic
externalities. Most of the time, polluters don't have to deal with the repercussions of their
activities since such repercussions happen somewhere else or in the distant future. Second,
because of the widespread belief that there is a limitless supply, natural resources are typically
priced too low. The American environmentalist Garrett Hardin coined the term "the tragedy of
the commons" to describe the ensuing predicament in 1968. Natural resources are a shared pool
that anybody is free to take from and put to their own use. It may be in one person's self-interest
to consume up a shared resource without giving thought to its finite quantity, but this is not in
anybody else's best interest. Still, people do it because individuals can gain in the near term, even
if the community will bear the consequences of depletion with in long run. Individuals face little
incentives to utilize the commons in a sustainable manner, thus the government must step in to
ensure their preservation (Zhou & Wang, 2022).
5 Conclusion
In an ideal situation, a bic pen can produce a line that is 1.92 kilometres in length and just 1
millimetre in width. The vast portion of the pen is made of plastic. Shipping containers used to
carry the pens are also a major source of pollution because they are made of glass. The ballpoint
pen is made from 1.35g of polypropylene, 3.45g of polystyrene, 0.2 grams of the ethanol as that
of the principal ink component, and 0.05g of tungsten carbide. Zinc was left out because it would
produce absurdly high impacts, one thousand times stronger than aluminium.
14. Polystyrene was the primary contributor to emissions in the baseline LCA (barrel) Its
effectiveness is difficult to enhance because it is seldom regenerated. We calculated the required
weight for the aluminium barrel using the densities of aluminium and polystyrene to ensure that
the pen's overall profile would remain unchanged.
6 Recommendations
I propose a replacement cap, body, and refills made of the following materials. Developed from
modified corn starch as well as other renewable resources, Plastarch Material (PSM) is a
biodegradable polymer plastic featuring stiffness, hardness, and elasticity. Features such as these, as
well as being non-toxic, resistant to extreme temperatures, and so on, are standard. In addition, the
production method generates zero wastewater, zero emissions, and zero trash. PSM trash may be
broken down into water, energy, and biological carbon in as little as 80 days, making it a truly
biodegradable material.
7 Summary
The goal is to develop a Bic-style writing instrument that, during its entire useful lifespan,
produces far less harmful emissions. This document details the product's enhancements, the
rationale behind the objectives selected, and the resulting reduction in environmental effect.
Open LCA assessed ethanol emissions using ethene and tungsten emissions using steel owing to
data restrictions. Because glass containers are included in the shipping containers that hold the
pens, they are not the primary focus of our investigation.
15. 8 References
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