Sustainability – The Scientific Way
Thursday 25 February, 2010
At Mars Drinks we are constantly looking at ways to improve our sustainability as part of our Thirsty for Change programme.
The environmental impact of our products is of prime importance to us and so, in order to discover more, we decided it was necessary to conduct a full Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
Taking our most popular coffee - FLAVIA Columbia Coffee, we traced its journey from the start to the end of its life.
Determining the carbon footprint of a specific product requires an extensive collection of data for each material used and activity carried out, from raw material extraction to end of life disposal. This process requires highly specialised skills. Mars Drinks has been fortunate enough to have an experienced partner in the LCA process – WSP Environment & Energy, part of the WSP Group.
Mars Drinks had two principle objectives for conducting this LCA; to provide a benchmark of the environmental impact of FLAVIA Columbia Coffee and to gain information which would enable the team to drive product improvement, innovations and new ideas.
The stages used in this LCA included:
- Raw Materials Extraction (including coffee growing)
- Raw Materials Transportation
- Product Manufacture
- Product Storage
- Product Distribution
- Use by Consumer
- End of Life
Daniel Vennard, corporate affairs and sustainability director at Mars Drinks, describes the importance of the work: “As part of our Thirsty for Change sustainability programme, Mars Drinks has committed to spending a significant proportion of its research and development budget on enhancing the overall sustainability of our products. Using the findings from the LCA will help target the areas where Mars Drinks can reduce its carbon footprint and become even more focussed in our efforts to make drinks vending truly sustainable.”
Preliminary findings from the FLAVIA Columbia Coffee LCA show that the key impact in terms of energy consumption is the usage phase (over 70% of the total energy use across the lifecycle). This means that when a cup of coffee is produced, it is not the international transportation, the roasting or the packaging of the beans that has the highest environmental impact, but actually the energy used to heat the water and brew the drink.
Mark Newbold of WSP Environment & Energy shares his thoughts about the importance of committing to sustainable strategies: “By benchmarking the current environmental performance of its FLAVIA Columbia Coffee, Mars Drinks is demonstrating its commitment to identifying and delivering sustainability strategies, eco-innovations and improvements to its range that will last. This is important for all elements of the supply chain, from the farmers sourcing Mars Drinks key ingredients through to the customers, to ensure a real environmental change can be made.”
This research places Mars Drinks in an excellent position to ensure the energy consumption of its drinks machines continues to remain low. We’ll make sure we keep you updated. In the meantime, if you’d like to find out more about our energy efficiency and sustainability practices, visit the Mars Drinks website.