📖Glossary

Functional Unit

To make comparisons within the UP Scorecard, it is necessary to compare two products that provide different amounts of some function (for example, cups that have different volumes). This difference in size needs to be accounted for when comparing the impacts of products. In the jargon of life cycle assessment (LCA), setting a “functional unit” allows one to define a standard quantity of a product or service. In some cases, defining a standard quantity is straightforward, and relatively uncontroversial. In other cases, there is no perfect way to define the standard amount. In the UP Scorecard, a standard amount is defined for each use case.

The UP Scorecard calculates Raw Scores and Normalized Scores for each of the six metrics. The Raw Scores indicate the impact associated with a product or portfolio of products. The Normalized Scores provide an indication of how good an option is relative to the alternatives (for the Climate, Plastic Pollution, and Water Use metrics), or relative to the minimum and maximum possible per-service score.

Raw Scores represent the impact of using a product to supply a standard amount of a service (e.g. 1 liter of cup volume; see cards above). In the Product Comparison mode, a “product” is not necessarily just one item. For example, if a cup has a volume of 100 mL, the raw scores for that cup, in Product Comparison mode, represent the use of 10 of those cups.

Raw Score

Product Comparison mode: Raw Scores represent the impact of using a product to supply a standard amount of a service (e.g. 1 liter of cup volume; see Table 1.1). In Product Comparison, a “product” is not necessarily just one item. For example, if a cup has a volume of 100 mL, the raw scores for that cup, in Product Comparison mode, represent the use of 10 of those cups.

Portfolio Scoring mode: Raw Scores represent the impact of using a product. In this mode, a “product” is just the item itself. The user enters the quantity of each product in the portfolio

Learn more here.

Normalized Score

The Normalized Scores provide an indication about how good an option is, relative to the alternatives (for the Climate, Plastic Pollution, and Water Use metrics), or relative to the minimum and maximum possible per-service score. For all six metrics, raw scores are defined so lower is better, and normalized scores are defined so higher is better (between 1 and 100). In both Comparison and Portfolio modes, the normalization depends on the range of ‘best to worst’ raw scores.

The goal of the Normalized Scores, for both Product Comparison and Portfolio modes, is to provide an indication about how well a product or portfolio of products performs, relative to other options that are available. A low Normalized Score means the option is among the worst performing; a high normalized score means the option is among the best performing.

Learn more here.

bioPET

PET is produced from two main raw materials: ethylene glycol (EG) and terephthalic acid (TPA). Synthesis of bio-based EG from bio-ethanol is a well-developed process and bioEG is available at a large scale.

In the UP Scorecard, bioPET is 30% bio-based with 70% of its mass coming from fossil-based TPA. The ethanol for bioEG is assumed to be produced from corn grain.

CO2 equivalents (CO2-eq.)

CO2 equivalents are a way to measure the impact of different greenhouse gases on global warming. Since various gases, like methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), have different abilities to trap heat in the atmosphere compared to carbon dioxide (CO2), CO2 equivalents are used to make a fair comparison.

Washing load

The number of products that can fit in a standard full-size commercial washer rack (50 cm x 50 cm; 19.75 in x 19.75 in)

Mass load factor

The weight of the full load is a percentage of the load capacity. This factor depends on the packing efficiency of products during shipping. If a trailer is filled to capacity but is under its rated payload weight, the mass load factor will be less than 100%. The higher the mass load factor, the less CO2 and water will be used in total.

NIAS

Non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) are chemicals that are present in a food contact material (FCM) or food contact article (FCA) but have not been added for a technical reason during the production process.

Inertness

A measure of how chemically inactive a material is. Examples of inert materials include glass, ceramic, or stainless steel. These materials do not interact with the food they are in contact with. Non-inert materials such as bio-plastics or paper do interact with the food they are in contact with. This results in chemicals migrating from the material into the food.

Ecoville

Ecoville is an imaginary place that offers ideal conditions for product recovery with access to all recycling and composting infrastructure.