Abstract
Environmental awareness in companies has increased significantly. On the one hand, more and more environmental regulations are affecting more and more industries, leading to high investments in environmental protection measures. On the other hand, the increased environmental awareness of the public directly affects the business of many companies. Environmental investments lead to competitive advantages in the course of strategic environmental management. The company achieves economic, ecological and social advantages in the areas of customers, employees, suppliers or the public through sustainable management. By choosing the right materials and a suitable supplier network, environmental protection measures can pay for themselves in a short time and ecological optimization can also lead to lower costs. Closing material cycles is not only ecologically desirable, it also creates economic advantages. The choice of transport packaging has a decisive influence on the environmental impact. The low weight of the transport packaging and the use of renewable raw materials save resources. In addition, repeated use of the packaging means a reduction in waste. However, minimizing waste heat and CO2 emissions, for example, is a major challenge for companies. If sustainability is not just to be a phenomenon or a vision, companies ask themselves about the recognizability of (non-) sustainable conditions, how they can be measured and how they can be changed and planned. With the just described background of increasing environmental awareness in companies, in the area of packaging, this master thesis shows how (non-) sustainable conditions can be measured. In order to make transport packaging as such measurable and to be able to subsequently evaluate it, the entire life cycle of this product must be taken into account. Using the example of the company KTM Sportmotorcycle Ltd., the environmental and cost effects of two packaging variants are assessed, using the assessment methods Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Costing. The packaging variants are presented in a comparative manner and the selection of the suitable alternative is justified. For this, the necessary steps to implement these methods are explained in detail and subsequently implemented in the company. This represents the packaging materials wood, cardboard and steel with their environment / as well as cost effects and allows comparability. By modeling the diverse material and energy flows of a product life cycle as well as the process sequences among each other, it is shown which individual measures lead to a relief of the environment or have a high environmental relevance. In addition, the use of dynamic investment calculation methods shows the economically most advantageous variant. The aim is to achieve a meaningful decision, with the correct data, for or against one of these packaging units, using the ecological and economic results obtained.
Translated title of the contribution | Life cycle assessment & Life Cycle Costing of sustainable transport packaging by the example of a motorcycle manufacturer |
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Original language | German |
Qualification | Dipl.-Ing. |
Awarding Institution |
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Supervisors/Advisors |
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Publication status | Published - 2020 |
Bibliographical note
embargoed until 17-02-2025Keywords
- Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
- Life Cycle Costing (LCC)
- sustainable transport packaging