PIQET is an independently developed business tool that is used for rapid environmental impact assessments of packaging, now available from the Sustainable Packaging Alliance.
The Alliance is a not-for-profit company established as a focal point for strategic research, technology transfer and education to underpin and facilitate the development of sustainable packaging systems.
PIQET was developed by RMIT’s Centre for Design, Birubi Innovation and Victoria University’s Polymer Research Unit, in partnership with Cadbury Schweppes, Lion Nathan, Nestle Australia, MasterFoods Australia and Simplot Australia.
Funding support was also provided for its development by Sustainability Victoria and the Commonwealth Departments of the Environment and Water Resources and, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts.
PIQET is based on internationally accepted life cycle assessment principles and allows rapid comparative assessments of packaging system designs at all stages of the design process.
By using PIQET companies can easily identify, review and prioritise actions to reduce the environmental impact of packaging and integrate environmental decisions into day to day business processes.
Companies such as Nestle Australia have manadated the integration of PIQET into their new product development processes to enable continuous improvement in environmental performance.
What can I use PIQET for?
PIQET models all stages of the life cycle for the complete packaging system and all its components.
Graphical and tabular reports inform the user of environmental impacts such as global warming (greenhouse gases); and water and energy use and solid waste generation at all stages of the lifecycle.
These include:
- raw material extraction,
- material manufacture,
- converting,
- transport of packaging to filler,
- filling,
- product and packaging distribution to retailer and end of life waste management – landfill, recycling, composting and waste to energy.
PIQET also reports packaging specific indicators that are required for reporting of National Packaging Covenant (NPC) Key Performance Indicators by NPC signatories and provides a robust process to demonstrate ECoPP compliance.
How do I use PIQET?
PIQET is a web-based tool available on a subscription basis or through services provided by SPA.
Subscriptions are based on the annual turnover (in Australian dollars) of the subscribing organisation.
Subscribers are allocated a number of user accounts which allows nominated users to access the tool via the web 24/7.
Each user has a home page where their existing projects are listed and new projects can be initiated. Each user is issued with a unique Login ID and Password.
Initial training and limited help desk support is covered by the subscription with additional support available through services from SPA. PIQET is used to compare the impacts of different packaging formats (e.g., can versus bottle) or materials (e.g. plastic versus glass or virgin material versus recycled material).
Once the user has defined a packaging system these can be easily replicated to allow a range of changes in design, material, transportation or waste management to be quickly compared with the status quo or benchmark.
An assessment of two similar packaging formats can be completed within 30 minutes ensuring that PIQET can be routinely used throughout the packaging-product development process.