FREE CARBON NEUTRAL DELIVERY ON ALL ORDERS

Sustainability Report

Below is an industry first Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). An EPD tells the lifecycle story of a product in a single, comprehensive report. It quantifiably demonstrates the environmental impacts of our Lightly Spiced Rum. The below report is in FULL, to show our full transparency and authenticity towards our sustainability values. Please analyse, skim, digest and enjoy!

Any comments or suggestions will be very much appreciated! russ@twodriftersdistillery.com 

Environmental Product Declaration

According to ISO 14025, ISO 14040, ISO 14044, EN 15804

Two Drifters Distillery - Lightly Spiced Rum 70 cL

Written by Russ Wakeham Consultancy Ltd 

Third party verified by My Carbon

Two Drifters Distillery is making award-winning rum with a carbon negative footprint. They are fully aware that issues facing the climate can only be reduced if businesses, no matter what size, start to measure and be openly transparent about their actions.

The purpose of this and other studies commissioned by Two Drifters Distillery was to determine the full environmental impact of their business activities. The results will be used to help calculate the amount of carbon that Two Drifters needs to remove from the atmosphere through Direct Air Capture technology so that they can be a net zero carbon company.  The results will also be published on the Two Drifters website, both for customers wishing to better understand their own environmental impacts, and to be used as an example for other companies wishing to study their own footprints.

The following report consists of the Life Cycle Assessment of the

Lightly Spiced Rum, 70 cL

 

EPD Program and Program Operator

Name, Address, Logo and Website

Russ Wakeham Consultancy,

Manufacturer Name and Address

Two Drifters Distillery Ltd

Unit 5 Skyways Business Park, Fair Oak Cl, Exeter EX5 2UL

Declaration Number

220526.0002.2

Declared Product & Functional Unit

Packaged 70 cL bottle of Two Drifters Lightly Spiced Rum

Description of Product Application/Use

Glass bottle containing Lightly Spiced Rum by Two Drifters Distillery.

Date of Issue

30 June 2023

Period of Validity

1 Years

EPD Type

Product-specific

EPD Scope

Cradle-to-grave

LCA Software & Version Number

OpenLCA Version 1.11.0 copyright © 2007-2022 GreenDelta

LCA Database & Version Number

EF 3.0, OpenLCA version 1.11.0 copyright © 2007-2022 GreenDelta

LCIA Methodology & Version Number

EF 3.0, OpenLCA version 1.11.0 copyright © 2007-2022 GreenDelta

 

1.   Product Definition and Information

1.1. Description of Company

Two Drifters Distillery is making award-winning rum with a negative carbon footprint. They are fully aware that issues facing the climate can only be reduced if businesses, no matter what size, start to measure and be openly transparent about their actions. Thus, wanting to lead by example, Two Drifters is completing Life Cycle Assessments of its products, through the services of Russ Wakeham Consultancy, in order to evaluate the environmental impacts of the company.

 

1.2. Product Description

Natural Cork

FCS Wooden top 

Tamper seal

100% compostable    

Carbon negative rum

Glass bottle

Light and British Made

Label

95% sugarcane fibre (waste material) and 5% hemp & linen

1.3. Application

The purpose of this life cycle assessment is to inform consumers of the impact of purchasing this product, as well as to compare this product’s environmental impact with other products. 

1.4. Declaration of Methodological Framework

The data is retrieved from a cradle to grave LCA study. The description of study boundaries is declared in Section 4.1.

1.5. Technical Requirements

About the technical specs – Rum 

Name          

Value

Unit

Alcohol Type

Rum

Raw Material

Molasses

Alcohol %

40.00

% ABV

Glass Bottle

70

cL

 

 1.6. Material Composition

Process

Ingredient

% Mass

Fermentation

Molasses

70.45

Yeast

0.38

Diammonium phosphate

0.05

Calcium sulfate

0.02

Magnesium sulphate

0.01

 

Silcon-based antifoam

0.01

Flavouring & Dilution

Burnt sugar

0.06

Mixed spice

0.01

Vanilla

0.03

Star anise

0.02

Water 28.92

 

1.7. Manufacturing

The Two Drifters Lightly Spiced Rum is made at the Two Drifters Distillery at Unit 5 Skyways Business Park, Fair Oak Cl, Exeter EX5 2UL.

1.8. Packaging

The packaging of the product depends on the quantity ordered. Flexi-hex bottle packaging is used for both small and large quantities. Flexi-hex is a carbon neutral, plastic free, and recyclable packaging. Therefore, it does not increase the carbon footprint of the Lightly Spiced Rum.

1.9.          Transportation

The transportation of the product depends on the location of the customer. All transportations within the UK are completed through the services of DPD, which are carbon neutral. The average distance travelled in the UK is assumed to be 100 miles. Pallet deliveries of Two Drifters Lightly Spiced Rum are made and an allocation for the known journey and average HGV emission is included.

 

1.10.          Product Installation

N/A

1.11.          Use

Rum should not be consumed post expiration date, nor from individuals under the legal drinking age (18 in the UK).

 1.12.          Reference Service Life

 Indefinite

 1.13.          Reuse, Recycling, and Energy Recovery

The bottle of rum can be reused and recycled. The glass is highly recyclable, and the cork, label and tamper seal used are compostable.

 

1.14.          Disposal

At end of life the packaging should be recycled, labelling on the bottle encourages the consumer to recycle responsibly. The bottle is expected to be recycled or reused. A glass recycling bin is suitable for this purpose.  Disposal in municipal landfill or commercial incineration is permissible in accordance with local regulations. However, this is discouraged. 

2.   Life Cycle Assessment Background Information 

2.1. Functional or Declared unit 

A packaged 70 cL bottle of Two Drifters Lightly Spiced Rum. 

2.2. System Boundary 

Life-cycle stages according to the EN standard are separated by each stage of the product’s life cycle. The system boundaries include:

Upstream

Upstream processes include ingredients, packaging and cleaning supplies.

Core

Core processes include the energy, water and wastewater used and produced throughout the production of the product, as well as the transportation of ingredients, packaging and cleaning supplies to the distillery. 

Downstream and End of Life

Downstream processes include the transportation of the product to the consumer, emissions related to specific consumer types, transportation of the packaging to waste management facilities, and finally the waste management of the packaging. 
Different life cycle stages are either mandatory or optional for a different scope of LCA.  In product level assessments only the upstream and core stages are mandatory, while the downstream and end of life stages are optional. We choose to include these stages, as they can play a large role in the final impact of a product. 

 

2.3. Estimates and assumptions 

In the process of assessing the life cycle of a product there is always a factor of uncertainty. In order to maximize the efficacy of the LCA, Russ Wakeham Consultancy take estimates on uncertain areas, supported with secondary research on the topic. 

The LCA of Two Drifters Lightly Spiced Rum has certain areas of uncertainty where estimates have to be done. These consist of whether the bottle of the rum is actually being recycled, as the customer is responsible of that. Additionally, due to the vast number of glass recycling plants, and methods of recycling, it is uncertain how much energy, and what type, is used to recycle the bottles. 

2.4. Cut-off criteria 

In accordance with calculation rules for life cycle assessments, the cut-off criteria is less than 1% of the total mass per unit process, the sum of which shall not exceed 5% of either energy or mass. If a flow that could be excluded is considered to have significant environmental impact, it will be included regardless. No flows within this product life cycle assessment were excluded. 

2.5. Data Sources and Quality 

The datasets for materials upstream from manufacturing are a combination of information from open access databases used in OpenLCA, supplier provided data, and UK government reported emissions standards. The temporal quality of the data is very good, with the emissions standards and manufacturing data being from 2021 and the OpenLCA background data being from no earlier than 2018. Among the datasets used are the following:

Agribalyse v3.0.1 

EU Environmental Footprints v4

UK Conversion Factors 2021

Ecoinvent v3.7 LCIA methods 

Full OpenLCA LCIA results for generic global values for energy use, water use, and end-of-life scenarios were adjusted using a conversion factor in order to match with UK-specific reports for carbon alone. 

Database

Ingredient/component

OpenLCA database value used

agribalyse

Lorry transport

Transport, freight, lorry 3.5-7.5 metric ton, EURO5 {GLO}| market for | Cut-off, S - Copied from Ecoinvent.

agribalyse

Sea transport

Transport, freight, sea, transoceanic tanker {GLO}| processing | Cut-off, S - Copied from Ecoinvent

agribalyse

Recycling transportation

Diesel {Europe without Switzerland}| market for | Cut-off, S - Copied from Ecoinvent

EF_secondarydata

Water

Drinking water

Elcd_greendelta

Electricity mix

electricity mix, nondistillery proportion 34.1%

Needs_18

Electricity, Fresnel CHP for cooling at power plant,

electricity, nondistillery proportion 65.9%

agribalyse

Natural gas

Heat, central or small-scale, natural gas {Europe without Switzerland}| heat production, natural gas, at boiler condensing modulating <100kW | Cut-off, S - Copied from Ecoinvent

Elcd_greendelta

Biodegradable waste recovery

waste incineration of biodegradable waste fraction in municipal solid waste (MSW)

agribalyse

Yeast

Baker's yeast, compressed, processed in FR | Ambient (long) | Cardboard | at distribution/FR

agribalyse

Anise

Cloves, consumption mix/FR U

agribalyse

DAP

Diammonium phosphate (DAP) (with 18% N, 46% P2O5), at plant (WFLDB 3.5)/RER U

EF_secondarydata

MgSO4, CaSO4

Magnesium sulfate_at plant_EU-28+3_S

agribalyse

Spices

Mix of 4 spices, at plant/FR U

agribalyse

Molasses

Molasses, from sugarcane, from Brazil, at feed plant/FR S

agribalyse

Acetic Acid

Peracetic acid, at plant/RER U (ACYVIA)

EF_secondarydata

Caustic

sodium hydroxide

agribalyse

Pineapple syrup, Caramel syrup

Syrup (mint, strawberries flavouredetc.), with sugar diluted in water, processed in FR | Ambient (long) | PET | at distribution/FR

agribalyse

Burnt sugar, sugar syrup

Syrup, with sugar (to be diluted), processed in FR | Ambient (average) | Glass | at packaging/FR

agribalyse

Vanilla

Vanilla, aqueous extract, processed in FR | Ambient (long) | PVC | at packaging/FR

EF_secondarydata

Glass

Glass (formed & finished)

USDA_1901009

Tariff stickers

Paper, freesheet, coated, average production, at mill

agribalyse

Aluminium cap

Screw cap, aluminium, for wine bottle, at plant/RER U (ACYVIA)

agribalyse

Tamper seal

Carboxymethyl cellulose, powder {GLO}| market for | Cut-off, S - Copied from Ecoinvent

agribalyse

Cork stopper

Natural cork stopper, at plant/RER U (ACYVIA)

User based

Labels

hemp and sugar cane paper (5% hemp fibres, 95%)

agribalyse

Label component

agricultural-->Plant production-->cereals-->transformation-->Hemp fibre, without processing/FR U-->imported from SimaPro

Exiobase3

Label component

elementary flows-->resource-->unspecified-->Domestic Extraction Used - Primary Crops - Sugar Cane

UK Government GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting

Transportation, Lorry; Transportation, ship; 

electricity; recycling transportation; diesel; drinking water; natural gas

Diesel, lorry shipping, global shipping, electricity grid, natural gas, drinking water

 

EF_secondarydata

Natural gas

Heat, central or small-scale, natural gas {Europe without Switzerland}| heat production, natural gas, at boiler condensing modulating <100kW | Cut-off, S - Copied from Ecoinvent

EF_secondarydata

Diesel

Diesel, burned in lorry, EURO5 (WFLDB 3.1)/RER U

 

Values from the ‘UK government GHG conversion factors for company reporting’ publication were used to convert OpenLCA outputs to reflect UK emissions reporting. The conversion factors were based upon the comparison of reported CO2e by the UK government and the OpenLCA Climate Change CO2e category value. This new conversion factor was then

multiplied across each impact category in the OpenLCA LCA results to determine the full life cycle assessment of each value used from the ‘UK government[…]’ publication. The conversion factors are detailed in the below table. UK grid electricity was determined using a mix of two electricity sources in OpenLCA to achieve the UK transmission emission factor, as determined in the publication ‘Life Cycle Assessment of the Transmission Network in Great Britain’ (G Harrison et al, 2020). Two Drifters Distillery uses green tariff electricity, so all electricity used in the distillery was calculated as having the emission factor of transmission only, and two additional electricity sources in OpenLCA (wind and thermal) were consulted for this transmission mix.

 

 

OpenLCA (kg CO2e)

UK published emission factor (kg CO2e)

Conversion Factor

Ship, transportation

6.01E-06/ kg*km

9.00E-6/ kg*km

 

1.50

Lorry, transportation

0.00052/ kg*km

0.0002078/kg*km

0.3996

Diesel

3.23293/ kg

2.96907/ kg

0.91838

Green tariff electricity

0.21233/kWh

 

0.01879/kWh

0.088511

Electricity mix

2.44746/kWh

0.21233/kWh

0.7075

Electricity, Fresnel CHP

0.06975/kWh

0.21233/kWh

0.2925

Natural gas

0.26085/kWh

0.20297/kWh

0.7781

Drinking water

0.00058/L

0.000149/L

0.2569

 

2.6. Market Placement / Application Rules 

N/A 

2.7. Period Under Review 

1st of January 2022 – 31st December 2022 

2.8. Allocation 

The impact method chosen for this assessment is EPD (2018), accessed from the Ecoinvent v3.7 LCIA methods database. The background data used in this assessment used a combination of power mix and transportation mix data as published in the 2021 UK government conversion factors report, and data for upstream manufacturing was derived from OpenLCA opensource databases. After the molasses is fermented the stillage is sent away to be mixed with grain for cattle feed. This could be considered a coproduct, but the impact of this recycling has not yet been calculated. As such, no credits are taken for recycling of production waste at this time. The full production stage is considered in the core and upstream categories, including cleaning chemicals, ingredients, energy and water. 

3.   Life Cycle Assessment Scenarios

A1-A3: Product Stage 

Table 3.1. Transportation of ingredients to the facility. 

Item

Method of Transport

Value

Unit

Method of Transport

Value

Unit

Molasses

Lorry

340

km

Ship

12118

km

Yeast

Lorry

48

km

Lorry

631

km

Diammonium phosphate

Lorry

49

km

 --

--

--

Calcium sulfate

Lorry

345

km

--

--

--

Magnesium sulphate

Lorry

345

km

--

--

--

Silcon-based antifoam

Lorry

345

km

--

--

--

Burnt sugar

Lorry

284

km

Truck

1800

km

Mixed spice

Lorry

295

km

--

--

--

Vanilla

Lorry

295

km

--

--

--

Star anise

Lorry

477

km

Ship

18335

km

Peracetic acid

Lorry

345

km

--

--

--

Caustic soda

Lorry

345

km

--

--

--

 

Table 3.2. Ingredients per functional unit, including electricity and water used in manufacturing. 

Item

Value

Unit

Molasses

0.906009

kg

Yeast

0.004622

kg

Diammonium phosphate

0.000555

kg

Calcium sulfate

0.000231

kg

Magnesium sulphate

0.000116

kg

Silicon-based antifoam

6.16E-05

kg

Burnt sugar

0.000847

kg

Mixed spice

0.000749

kg

Vanilla

0.000399

kg

Star anise

0.000252

kg

Electricity

1.363636

kWh

Water

 

L

Peracetic acid

0.00761

kg

Caustic soda

0.010566

kg

 

Table 3.3. Transportation of packaging components to the facility. 

Item

Method of transport

Value

Unit

Bottle glass

Lorry

446

mi

Natural cork

Lorry

1753

mi

Hemp and sugarcane label

Lorry

111.9

mi

Tamper seal (cellulose)

Lorry

232

mi

Tamber seal sticker

Lorry

232

mi

 

Table 3.4. Components per packaging unit. 

Item

Amount

Unit

Bottle glass

0.52

kg

Natural cork

0.009

kg

Hemp and sugarcane label

0.00421

kg

Tamper seal (cellulose)

0.00191

kg

Tamper seal sticker

0.00032

kg


A4-A5: Construction Phase 

A4: Transportation to customer of finished product. 

Nearly all deliveries are made by carbon-neutral methods, except for a few large retailer shipments that were made by lorry. The emission factor was chosen based on the assumption that a 13-ton lorry made the journey with an average fill, as reported by the UK government GHG conversion factors for company reporting report from 2019. 

Table 3.5. Total shipments that were not carbon neutral for 2021.

Client number

Number of pallets

Total bottles

Total weight (kg)

Distance (miles)

1

1

210

289.5

82.7

2

9

1416

1997.2

302

3

1

120

174

191

4

3

144

244.8

127

5

2

870

1156.5

493

 

A5: Installation. 

It is assumed that the bottle of rum required no installation, and the emissions produced from non-carbon neutral transport were averaged across all bottles sold. 

B1-B7: Use Phase 

B1-B7 Use phase: Zero allocations were considered for B1-B5 due to the nature of rum consumption. However, B6 and B7 were calculated with proportional considerations to the distribution locations. Two Drifters send rum to off-trade retailers (brick-and-mortar shops), on-trade retailers (bars), directly to consumers, and to large distributors. 

The electricity, water and transportation use of each distribution location type were calculated below. Sales data was then used to determine how many bottles were sent to each distribution location, and to create the proportional composition of an average bottle’s fate [Table 3.10]. This was then used to calculate the average bottle’s use phase footprint. 

For on-trade distribution: It was assumed that each 70 cL bottle sold was displayed using 2 LED lights with a shelf-life span of 2.3 weeks (based on a consumption of 0.3 L/week), and that each 30 mL shot was served neat with one 30 cm3 ice cube. 

Table 3.6. On-trade display electricity cost calculation. 

 

Value

Unit

String of 360 lights

0.006

kWh/hr

Energy consumption per bulb

1.67E-5

kWh/hr

Energy consumption per bulb per week, assuming 11 hours per day for 6 days

1.10E-3

kWh/wk

Energy for 2 bulbs for 2.3 weeks

5.06E-3

kWh/bottle

 

  

Table 3.7. On trade use of ice, water and electricity calculation. 

 

Value

Unit

Heat capacity of water

4182

J/kg*˚C

Temperature change from 20 C to –18 C

38

˚C

Energy required to make 1 kg of ice

110.05

J

Volume of 1 ice cube

30

cm3

Weight of 1 ice cube

27.6

g

Energy required to make 1 ice cube

3.037

J

Freezer efficiency

30

%

Electricity use to make 1 ice cube

8.20 E-7

kWh

Electricity use to make 23 ice cubes

1.89E-5

kWh

Water use to make 23 ice cubes

634.8

g

 

For off-trade (store) distribution: It was assumed that each 70 cl bottle had a shelf life of 1 month before selling, and that the average store had a total area of 78 m2, of which 28 m2 is covered by shelving units with 5 shelves each, amounting to 1,400 m2 of shelf space. With a diameter of 8 cm2, 0.0064 m2 was estimated as the footprint for each bottle. 

Table 3.8. Off-trade brick and mortar store energy use calculation.

 

Value

Unit

Electricity Use*

15.39

kWh/m2*year

Natural Gas Use*

9.42

m3/m2*year

Annual electricity for average store

1200.62

kWh/year

Annual natural Gas for average store

734.635

m3/year

Monthly electricity for average store

100.05

kWh/month

Monthly natural gas for average store

61.22

m3/month

Shelving space available at any one point in time

1,400

m2

Bottle Footprint

0.0064

m2

Electricity Use per bottle to display for 1 month

0.000457

kWh/0.0064 m2*month

Natural Gas use per bottle to display for 1 month

0.00028

m3/0.0064 m2*month

*Values converted from publication by Esource customer direct, https://dsoelectric.com/sites/dsoelectric/files/My%20Business/retail.pdf

 

For regional distribution and wholesale suppliers (warehouse): Assumed a medium-sized warehouse operating at 70% capacity with high-storage technology with VNA devices operating only in the storage area (up to 18 m (approximately 15 m of reaching) and with aisles of 1.9 m), other phases being supported by counterbalanced forklifts. It is also assumed that bottles will last an average of 1 month in the warehouse. 

Table 3.9. Warehouse energy use calculations for bottles sold to regional distributors.

 

Value

Unit

Warehouse capacity*

42,930

m3

Average annual energy consumption*

131,287

kWh/year

Used Capacity

70

%

Energy consumption per m3

4.368

kWh/ m3*year

Energy consumption per m3 per month

0.3640

kWh/ m3*month

Length of stay of rum

1

month

Size of a box (6 bottles) of rum

0.0133875

m3

Energy consumption per bottle

0.00081218

kWh/bottle*month

*Values taken from publication: ‘Energy Consumption in a Distributional Warehouse:

A Practical Case Study for Different Warehouse Technologies’, Lewczuk et al 2021

 

For direct-to-consumer deliveries: 0 allocations were assumed. 

Table 3.10. Proportion of sales by distribution type.

Distribution type

Value

Unit

Direct to consumer

28.0

%

Large distributor (warehouse)

24.6

%

Off-trade brick and mortar

41.0

%

On-trade establishments

6.4

%

 

C1-C4: End of Life and Disposal 

C1. No assumptions were made for deconstruction and demolition due to the nature of the product. 

C2 Transport to waste processing: 

Transport to waste processing consists of the glass bottles of the Lightly Spiced Rum from the location the buyers choose to dispose of the glass to the closest glass recycling plant. This estimate is taking into consideration that the buyer decides to recycle the glass bottle, and that glass is the dominant component of the packaging material by weight. 

The average distance travelled for waste processing is 5.3 miles. This has been calculated by taking into consideration the locations of the buyers of the products, and the distance from these locations to the closest glass recycling plant. 

The most used vehicle to transport glass and other recyclable products in the UK is the 2013 Dennis Eagle Elite 2, It has a six-cylinder 8.9L Cummins diesel engine. Therefore, by taking into consideration the consumption of the vehicle (30L / 61miles), it is estimated that the average journey of a glass bottle from the recycling bin to the glass recycling plant consumes 2.6 L of diesel. This translates to 6.86 kg of CO2e emissions emitted per 5.3-mile journey. 

As the average weight of the vehicle that emits 6.86 kg CO2e per 5.3 miles is 16,500 kg and the weight of the consumed bottle of Lightly Spiced Rum is 0.52 kg, the weight of the bottle accounts for 0.0032% of the total emissions. This translates to a total of 0.000216 kg CO2e emissions per bottle per 5.3 miles. 

This calculation assumes that the customer chooses to recycle the glass bottle, and that the recycling lorry transports the glass to the nearest glass recycling plant from the location of the recycling bin. 

C3 Waste processing for reuse, recovery and/or recycling: 

Energy consumed in recycling glass. 

No values for recycling glass could be found in the OpenLCA databases used, so literature values were used to calculate impact of recycling glass. The energy consumed in the process of recycling one glass bottle is equal to the energy consumption of a 110-watt bulb for 4 hours. A 110-watt light bulb uses 0.1 kilowatts each hour in the UK. Therefore, the energy consumed in recycling one bottle is equal to 0.4 kilowatts. Most energy used in British glass production is in the form of natural gas, and so the LCIA values for natural gas were used to compute the impact of the equivalent of 0.4 kWh produced via natural gas for this category. It was assumed that 100% of the glass was recycled. 

This can be explained as using crushed glass from bottles (cullet) instead of virgin material saves between 20-30% of energy. The key point to this energy saving is that, when manufacturing is carried out using recycled glass or cullet, the material’s melting point is lower and subsequently, so is the energy required. 

C4. Disposal 

It was assumed that 100% of the remaining components of the bottle packaging were incinerated in an energy recovery plant. This included the cork, the hemp paper labels, and the cellulose outer ring for a total of 0.01931 kg of biodegradable material for waste incineration. 

D Reuse, recovery and/or recycling potential expressed as net impacts and benefits: 

Savings in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG): By using glass cullet, the carbon emissions are reduced from between 20 - 50%. For every recycled ton of glass, the emission of 200 kg of CO2e (166-315 kg) is avoided. The recycling credit resulting from sending glass bottles to a recycling plant as opposed to a landfill was calculated using the above emissions savings (0.104 kg CO2e /bottle) as well as the assumption that all emissions avoided were due to natural gas consumption.

On average, energy recovery from incineration of waste of one tonne of mixed waste produces 557 kWh in the UK in 2021. This translates into 0.557 kWh/kg waste produced, and 0.010756 kWh for the incineration of the remaining components of the packaging. 

Air pollution is reduced by 20% for every 10% of recycled glass, the emission of particles into the atmosphere is reduced by 8%, 10% in the case of Sulphur oxides and 4% for nitrogen oxide. Therefore, it is very important, not just for carbon emissions, to recycle all glass if possible. It is also interesting to note that for every 1 kg of glass bottles made from recycled material, 1.2 kg of starting materials for virgin glass production is saved. 

4.   Life Cycle Assessment Results

The goal of this study was to determine the environmental impact of a bottle of Lightly Spiced Rum in order to assist Two Drifters Distillery’s full company carbon impact. Along the way other impact categories were calculated, and these are displayed alongside the global warming potential (CO2e) results. Results have been displayed to include the recycling credits, in order to fully express the life cycle impact that one bottle of Lightly Spiced Rum has. 

In the life cycle assessment of the Lightly Spiced Rum the areas which are considered are stages A1-D. 

 

A1:

The extraction of raw materials, specifically, molasses from sugarcane, which is used for the rum distilling process.

A2:

Transportation of raw materials to the distillery in Exeter. Molasses are sources from Central America.

A3:

The distilling process of the rum and packaging.

A4:

Transportation of the packaged product to end user type.

A5:

Installation of the rum at the end user facility.

B1:

Use of the product by the end user.

B2:

Maintenance of bottle at end user.

B3:

Repair of bottle at end user.

B4:

Replacement of bottle.

B5:

Refurbishment of bottle.

B6:

The energy associated with consuming the rum at the end user.

B7:

The water associated with consuming the rum at the end user.

C1:

Deconstruction and removal of the bottle from the end user’s location.

C2:

Transportation of the bottle and cork to a waste processing facility.

C3:

The energy required to recycle glass.

C4:

The emissions related to incineration of the label, cellulose seal and cork.

D:

The recycling potential credit for recycling glass and for producing electricity waste incineration.

 

To continue reading the full report, and to download this EPD (if you wish), please click the link below. 

Two Drifters 2022 EPD - Lightly Spiced Rum 70 cL

Two Drifters 2022 EPD - Signature Rum 70 cL

Two Drifters 2022 EPD - Pure White Rum 70 cL

Two Drifters 2022 EPD - Overproof Spiced Pineapple Rum 70 cL

Two Drifters 2022 EPD - Lightly Spiced Rum 5 cL 

Two Drifters 2022 EPD - Signature Rum 5 cL

Two Drifters 2022 EPD - Pure White Rum 5 cL

Two Drifters 2022 EPD - Overproof Spiced Pineapple Rum 5 cL