EPD Summary
1. SUMMARY.
LUQUE ECOLOGICO, S. L. has been developing for years a deep commitment to develop its operations in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way. It was the FIRST OIL MILL IN THE WORLD TO CALCULATE THE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF ITS ORGANIC EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL according to PAS 2050 in 2008 with a clear commitment to work on its reduction ("CO2 Verified" Protocol, in collaboration with DNV).
It also develops the agronomic management of the olive grove, with organic production practices and biological control, which give them great biodiversity in the cultivation ecosystem.
All this strategy that offers unquestionable benefits on the environment, until now had not been globally quantified in a methodologically sound way, supported by objective and internationally recognized indicators.
Having detected the sensitivity in the market of receiving simple and reliable information about this strategy, LUQUE ECOLOGICO understands that all these values must be transferred and communicated in its products and for this reason it considers that the EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) is the best alternative.
2. DESCRIPTION
An EPD® is a certified environmental statement prepared in accordance with the international standard ISO 14025 (Type III Environmental Declarations). This is environmental product / service information based on life cycle analysis (LCA) and other relevant information, in compliance with the standard.
Environmental Product Declarations (EPD®) add a new dimension to the market, reporting on the environmental performance or scope of products and services. The EPD® provide advantages both to the organizations promoting the declaration and to those who make use of the information contained in the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD®).
We have carried out a life cycle analysis of ECOLOGICAL VIRGIN OLIVE OIL, following the main international ISO standards (ISO 1044), so that the results obtained objectively can be understood anywhere in the world.
The life cycle analysis contemplates all the phases of our oil, starting with the raw materials necessary in agronomy, to continue inventorying all the operations that take place in the different agronomic operations, then entering the mill, until the end of the product Give up control of the company anywhere in the world.
This Environmental Product Declaration has been prepared for Extra Virgin Olive Oil made from the 2016 harvest, by the company LUQUE ECOLOGICO S.L. in its oil mill located in the town of Castro del Río, Córdoba (SPAIN).
3. DEFINITION OF THE FUNCTIONAL UNIT.
According to the Product Category Rule 2010: 07, the functional unit object of this declaration is "1 liter of bottled extra virgin olive oil". 4. SYSTEM LIMITS
According to PCR 2010: 07, the life cycle of EVOO is divided into upstream, key and downstream processes.
For the purposes of this Environmental Product Declaration, upstream processes shall be considered:
- Operations related to the planting of olive trees and the preparation of the land at the time of planting are not included since the age of cultivation is over 25 years.
- The work of preparing the ground in each campaign
- The manufacture and application and provision (including transport) of phytosanitary treatments and fertilization.
- Waste management, both pruning remains and product packaging.
- The use of auxiliary materials, such as mats, harvest boxes, etc.
- The use of water for irrigation
- The electrical energy consumed by charging mobile equipment batteries.
- The diesel consumed by the vehicles in the tillage and applications of phytosanitary treatments and fertilization.
- The diesel consumed by the vehicles used in the harvest to transport the olives from the farm to the mill.
As key processes are considered:
- The extraction by mechanical procedures of the oil contained in the olives, consisting of milling, centrifuging, shaking and filtering the oil.
- Conservation in stainless steel tanks.
- Packaging, including the manufacturing and making available (transport) of the elements that make up the packaging.
- The energy consumption of the mill.
- The use of water in the oil mill, exclusively for sanitary purposes since this EVOO does not incorporate water.
- Waste management, mainly alpeorujo and auxiliary elements.
As downstream processes, the following have been considered in this Environmental Product Declaration:
- The distribution of the EVOO to the client according to INCOTERMS in the case of export and delivery point, for national destinations.
- The use of the product
- The recycling or final disposal of the container after use.
5. INCLUSION OF TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS
Transport of raw materials and secondary materials used as well as transport of generated waste are included in the study.
6. REFERENCE PERIOD OF LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS.
All data used refers to production processes for the 2014-2016 campaigns.
7. CRITERIA FOR CALCULATING LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS
The results of the life cycle assessment are based on the following assumptions:
The transport of all raw materials and / or secondary materials is calculated according to the means of transport used.
The conversion factors to determine impact value of each activity data have been obtained from ECOINVENT.
For the estimation of end-of-life scenarios, the OECD publications on recyclability have been consulted.
The kilometric distances have been obtained with googlemaps and the nautical ones with "sea portdistancecalculator".
Impact categories considered for the evaluation of impact associated with the production of AOVE under 2010:07 PCR are as follows:
