Question

For this 3 paragraph discussion please do a environmental scan on Kellogg.

Answer 1

INTRODUCTION

The provision, preparation and consumption of food is not only essential for sustenance of life but for most societies it represents an important part of their identity and culture. However, food systems depend heavily on land, water and energy resources and contribute significantly to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, eutrophication and other environmental impacts (Tukker et al., 2006). For instance, direct and indirect GHG emissions from food production contribute 19%–29% of the global anthropogenic emissions, of which agriculture contributes more than 80% (Vermeulen et al., 2012). Agriculture also accounts for 70% of all freshwater withdrawals from rivers and aquifers globally (FAO, 2011a) and occupies more than 50% of the world’s vegetated land (Foley et al., 2005). Energy inputs to food production are also significant and have been increasing with technological development and increased mechanisation: it is estimated that the food sector accounts for around 30% of the global energy consumption (FAO, 2011b).

METHODOLOGY

Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been used as a tool to estimate the environmental impacts of breakfast cereals, following the ISO 14040/14044 methodology (ISO, 2006a, ISO, 2006b). The following sections define the goal and scope of the study together with the data and assumptions.

GOAL ANF SCOPE ON THE BASIS OF STUDY

The main objectives of the study are to estimate the environmental impacts and identify improvement opportunities along the Kellogg Europe’s supply chain. The results of this attributional study will be used to help the Company integrate environmental considerations into the design of their products and packaging.

The functional unit of the study is defined as the ‘production of 1 kg of breakfast cereal products’. The products considered are ready-to-eat breakfast cereals and snacks manufactured by Kellogg Europe.

Two system boundaries are considered:

System boundary 1: from ‘cradle to grave’, encompassing agriculture, manufacturing, packaging, transport and waste management, but excluding consumption of the products; and

System boundary 2: as above, but including consumption of cereals with milk.

The first system boundary is aimed at the producer and the second at the consumer of cereals.

• Raw Material
•Manufacturing
•Packaging
•Waste Management
•Transportation
•Consumption

INVENRTORY DATA AND ASSUMPTION

Kellogg Europe has five manufacturing facilities across Europe, three in the UK and one each in Germany and Spain. The inventory data for the production of cereals and snacks at these plants have been obtained from Kellogg Europe for the year 2011. Note that the data are not supplied for the individual products but for each of the production plants which produce different products. Therefore, these data have been used to estimate the weighted-average impacts across all the products taking into account their annual production, rather than the impacts of individual products. This is congruent with the goal of the study which aims to identify the environmental hotspots along Kellogg’s supply chain. The background life cycle inventory (LCI) data have been sourced from the Ecoinvent (2010) and CCaLC (2013) databases as well as from the literature. The data and the assumptions are detailed below.

Raw materials (ingredients): Cereals, such as corn, rice and wheat, are the main ingredients in breakfast cereal products.
Corn, which is sourced from Argentina, has been modelled using LCI data from Pieragostini et al. (2014). Rice is procured from Italy, Spain, Thailand and Egypt and the LCI data have been obtained from Blengini and Busto (2009), Kasmaprapruet et al. (2009) and Ecoinvent (2010).

Manufacturing: Production of breakfast cereals involves various processes, including grinding, boiling, mixing, cooking, extruding, puffing, drying and cooling, to produce different types of cereal forms, such as flaked, puffed, shredded and granola.

Packaging: The cereal products are packaged into carton boxes and HDPE bags (primary packaging), which are then packed into larger corrugated-board boxes that are wrapped with stretch film (secondary packaging) and loaded onto wooden pallets for distribution (tertiary packaging). The carton boxes and corrugated board used by Kellogg Europe are typically made of 80% and 98% recycled fibre, respectively.

Waste management: All relevant solid and liquid waste streams have been considered, generated by both processing plants and by the consumer . Process waste includes losses of ingredients and cereals (8% of the product) which is used as animal feed. Process packaging waste is recycled and sludge from the on-site wastewater treatment plant is used as a fertiliser.

Transport: The transport distances for each ingredient and packaging have been estimated from their country of origin to the Kellogg’s production plants (Table 5). The transport distances for intercompany transfers and distribution of products to retailers have been provided by Kellogg. The distances for disposal of all types of solid waste have been assumed at 100 km. The LCI data for transport have been sourced from the Ecoinvent database.

Consumption: Ready-to-eat cereals are usually eaten with milk. For most types, it is recommended on product packaging that 125 ml of semi-skimmed milk be added per 30 g serving.

Manual washing up of the cereal bowl is assumed and the data on the amount of water, detergent and energy have been taken from MTP (2008); the LCI data for these have been sourced from Ecoinvent. The disposal of post-consumer packaging waste is considered as part of the waste management

OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT

As the results of this study reveal, the agricultural production of the ingredients is the main hotspot for most of the environmental impacts, with rice being the main contributor. There are a number of technically feasible options available for mitigating the impacts in agriculture, including a reduced use of chemical fertilizer, crop rotation and better land management. Particularly, the agricultural impacts from rice cultivation can be reduced through better management practices at farm, including mid-season drainage, alternate wet–dry cultivation and replacing urea with ammonium sulphate fertilizer. For example, mid-season drainage can reduce methane emission from rice paddies by as much as 50%–60%, whereas replacing urea as a fertiliser with ammonium sulphate can reduce methane emissions by 40%.

The implementation of these measures would involve engaging actively with the farmers and growers to increase their awareness of how environmental impacts could be reduced. However, for food companies to influence the agricultural supply chain could be a highly challenging and complex task because of the wide geographical spread as well as small holder farmers involved in supply chains. Nevertheless, recognising the importance of working closely with primary producers, Kellogg has recently started providing training to farmers and helping them to share best practice (Kellogg, 2012). The Company is also engaging farmers through different multi-stakeholder partnerships, such as Sustainable Rice Platform, Sustainable Agriculture Initiatives Platform Europe, Cocoa foundation and Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (Kellogg, 2012).

The feasibility of the above-mentioned measures is not assessed here as it would require a further detailed study. Instead, several hypothetical scenarios, some of which are based on Kellogg’s sustainability targets, are considered to assess the potential for reducing the environmental impacts through the implementation of different improvement opportunities, as follows:•

Opportunity 1—Engaging and influencing farmers: Based on the Kellogg’s work with farmers in different regions, the Company estimates that environmental impacts of the ingredients used in the production of cereal products could be reduced by 10%–20% through better agricultural practices, such as optimising application of fertilisers, reduction in the use of pesticides and irrigation water as well as improving the crop yield. Here, a conservative value of 10% reduction of all impacts is considered.

Opportunity 2—Changing product recipes: Given the significant contribution of rice to the impacts, it is assumed that the quantity of rice is reduced by 25% and replaced with wheat, corn and barley in equal proportions.

Opportunity 3—Reducing energy use: It is assumed that the energy use at the manufacturing plants can be reduced by 15% through implementation of various energy-efficiency related measures.

Opportunity 4—Packaging changes: It is assumed that 20% of carton boxes are replaced with standalone HDPE bags.