November 2025 The Shift e-newsletter
FREE Webinar: Mass Balance Chain-of-Custody Model for LCA and EPDs | Biobased Plastics in LCA | Purpose of LCA
Free Webinar:
Introduction to the Mass Balance Chain-of-Custody Model and its Developing Application for LCA and EPDs
DATE: Thursday, December 4th, 2025
TIME: 1pm - 2pm EST
PRESENTERS:
Jason Pierce
Eastman Chemical Company
Description:
The mass balance credit method is a chain of custody (CoC) model which has generated both significant interest and controversy for application in LCA and EPD. Mass balance CoC model has been utilized in various industry sectors for decades but is experiencing significant growth via applications related to circular economy. There is a lack of guidance for LCA practitioners on how to integrate mass balance credit method CoC with LCA and EPDs. ACLCA is working to fill in the gap with the development of a mass balance chain of custody addendum to their Open PCR standard. The correct implementation of such guidance could better enable and encourage manufacturers to better utilize recycled content and other types of sustainability-focused inputs into integrated production processes.
This talk provides a basic introduction to the chain of custody topic with a focus on mass balance credit method including benefits, challenges, and recent developments. The session will include an update on the progress underway in the ACLCA mass balance working group.
Blog Author: Lise Laurin, CEO & Founder
In our November Brown Bag Webinar, Rafael Auras, my go-to for sustainable packaging expertise, spoke about the importance of boundary conditions in order to capture the system-wide impacts of packaging. He talked about how failure to do so may end up with low impact packaging that doesn’t actually do its job of protecting the product. If we only optimize for low packaging impact without ensuring that the packaging still protects the product, we risk increasing the system-wide footprint instead of reducing it. When the product being protected has a much higher environmental impact than the packaging itself, as is the case with foods like meat and high-tech items like electronics, inadequate protection can lead to product loss — and the resulting footprint is far greater than the savings from lightweighting. Too often, Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) are performed based on a set of rules without consideration of the consequences of the results.
Which leads me to the question: What is the purpose of LCA, anyway?
Blog Author: Nowell Stoddard, Junior Sustainability Analyst
Biobased plastics are often promoted as a promising solution for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – especially in packaging, which accounted for over half of global plastic waste in 2015. These materials do offer real environmental advantages, but as with most things in life cycle assessment (LCA), the reality is more nuanced.
For practitioners, the challenge lies in capturing that full complexity when modeling biobased systems.
Upcoming Training
We’re preparing our 2026 training offerings and look forward to sharing more in the new year.
Thank you for your continued interest and engagement.