Paper cutting for publishing industry: evaluation of environmental benefit of an advanced management system and of an environmental impact comunication tool

The aim of this work is to investigate on one hand the impacts and benefits due to the industrial cutting of paper using an advanced management system, on the other hand the scientific validity of an environmental impact communication tool. The present study shows how the paper cutting chain of the DueEmmePack company works, facing the issue of environmental impacts for each step; it is also illustrated and validated the Eco-calculator, a simple mean of communication between company and customer. As far as the Eco-calculator validation is concerned, the data implemented in the instrument were compared and updated with the data present in the most important national databases, verifying the reliability of the sources and always taking as reference the average Italian data. The tool results updated and reliable, but above all, proves to be effective precisely because of its simplicity, because it also allows an untrained eye to understand the environmental impacts thanks to a comparison with everyday situations. The study of the impacts of the DueEmmePack cutting process was possible thanks to the application of the Life Cycle Assessment methodology, which allows investigating the impact of a product or process throughout its life cycle. In addition, the calculation software SimaPro was fundamental, since it contains detailed databases of pre-set and validated processes (e.g. Ecoinvent) with which it was possible to carry out the study. The impacts generated by the company are mainly due to the internal transport of the material and the packaging procedure, while the use of photovoltaic panels for the electrical supply has proved to be of fundamental importance, as it is able to greatly reduce the impact on the environment. This study, set up in the "gate-to-gate", is therefore exploitable by the company as a management tool that provides information on internal processes on which to focus its attention and on which to intervene to improve environmental performance.