Design Life-Cycle

 Zhanna Kravtsova

Professor Christina Cogdell

TA Daniel Tran

Design 40, Section 1

4 December 2019

Pela Phone Case: Raw Materials

Pela Case claims to be a biobased “zero waste” product and uses completely compostable materials. This claim is analyzed through a study of the raw materials used in the manufacturing and distribution of the Pela Case. The Pela phone case is made of plant-based sources rather than petroleum-based sources and is biodegradable and compostable. Its main materials are compostable bioplastic elastomer and flax straw. Other materials such as non-renewable fossil fuels, cardboard and plastic are used in the manufacturing and distribution of the Pela Case. This report focuses on raw materials used in the manufacturing and distribution of the Pela Case and will analyze Pela’s claim to have a sustainable product life cycle with the ability to be completely biodegradable and compostable.

Pela Case is a compostable smartphone case launched by Open Mind Developments (OMD) in 2011. The founder of OMD, Jeremy Lang, prides Pela Case to be made from renewable materials: biopolymers which are created from annually renewable non-food crops. Pela uses a starch-based flax for its bioplastic manufacturing. ​The starch-based biopolymer is made stronger by addition of flax strands. ​The biopolymer is made up of flax straw components that are a waste by-product of flax. The manufacturing of biodegradable polymers involves using agricultural biopolymers and microorganisms. Biopolymers are a broad category of polymers created using living organisms which includes bioplastics which are also called bioresins. Pela Case is a bioplastic, or a bioresin, based product with biodegradable and renewable qualities. Biopolymers need to at least partially consist of renewable bio-based raw materials and be at least somehow biodegradable. Pela uses a renewable and biodegradable Canadian flax oilseed byproduct in its formulation.

The main material in Pela Case’s manufacturing, processing and formulation is what the Pela company calls Flaxstic. Flaxstic, a biopolymer, is made by OMD using Terratek® Flex GDH-B1 created by a raw material supplier company called Green Dot Bioplastics. According to Green Dot Bioplastics’ material datasheet Terratek® Flex GDH-B1 is suitable for injection molding, sheet extrusion, profile extrusion, blown film, and blow molding. The composing materials of GDH-B1 are starch-based compostable thermoplastic elastomer, which is a bioresin, and flax straw materials. The flax straw is the main material that Pela produces or rather harvests from existing flax fields in Saskatchewan, Canada for its phone case. The flax fiber and flax shive are obtained from waste material of the flax straw which would otherwise be burnt and cause emissions. Flax straw is an annually renewable resource and compostable material collected from the flax plantations in Saskatchewan as Jeremy Lang explains. Flax straw would be wasted if not used for the case because it is not used for anything else. The use of the agricultural biopolymers is responsible for Pela Case’s biodegradable properties at the end of its material life cycle. Pela confirms that not all materials for the Pela Case are renewable. Biobased content of Pela Case’s Terratek® Flex GDH-B1 is 35%, meaning that by weight only 35% of the content is biobased. The other biobased component, 10% flax shive, is added to the TerraTek Flex GDH-B1 to create Flaxstic® which is 45% biobased total. Fifty five percent of Flaxstic® is made of non renewable resources as pela.com admits in the question and answer portion of the website. While only over half of the materials that make up the phone case are made of nonrenewable resources, the materials used for its manufacturing and processing use much more nonrenewable resources.

Pela Case manufacturing, processing and formulation involves melting down the raw materials in an extruder. The machinery requires electricity and creates greenhouse gas emissions. This bioresin, or bioplastic, is melted in an extruder at approximately 300° F temperature. This is around 30-50° F less than in the processing of thermoplastic resins which are petroleum-based. Yet for heating the bioplastic elastomer, the injection mold facility and the engraving facility requires the use of fossil fuels. The negative environmental impact in manufacturing is due to the usage of fossil fuel for the melting processes in typical extruders for the formulation of the Pela Case.

After production, the Terratek resin is packaged in a plastic-lined 250 pound fiber drum to be shipped to the Pela company from Green Dot Bioplastics. Shipment uses non-renewable fossil fuels and non-degradable packaging of the bulk shipment of the raw materials from the raw material distributing company in the United States to the manufacturing facilities in the town of Saskatchewan in Canada. The plastic used in shipping is non-biodegradable and goes to landfill. The individual Pela cases are distributed in cardboard packages. The downside of Terratek® Flex GDH-B1 raw material has ​limited supply capabilities. U​nlike traditional plastic, bioplastic can be made using renewable energy and not using any petroleum. A negative aspect of using this bioplastic is that it can lead to deforestation, or material shortage and soil erosion if it is in high demand and too much is created. ​​So far this is not promising to be a problem because the production volume is low and this limited supply is causing higher prices for the bioplastics.​ ​The creation of bioplastics uses less fossil fuels and greenhouse gas than plastics. Organic materials, not fossil fuels, are the bases of Pela’s GDH-B1 creating a lesser carbon footprint than plastic and reduced carbon emissions.

In addition to bioplastic being a new type of plant based carbon, Pela Case creates carbon as a waste byproduct of its distribution. A byproduct of Pela Case production is non-renewable waste material and greenhouse gas emissions from electrically powered machinery. Fossil fuels are used as the energy in manufacturing, transportation and distribution of the Pela Case. Green Dot Bioplastics report in their data sheet that the company uses 4.21 megajoules of energy per kilogram for making Flaxstic’s raw material, the Terratek® Flex GDH-B1. In contrast plastic requires much more energy of somewhere between 62 to 108 megajoules per kilogram according to statista.com. In addition to production waste emissions​,​ distribution and material shipment from Kansas to Canada is responsible for using fossil fuels. Energy.gov describes fossil energy sources, which include coal,oil and natural gas, as non-renewable resources that were made by deceased prehistoric animals and plants immersed by rock formations over millions of years. Fossil fuel industries mine or drill for fossil fuels to use them as energy sources, burned to make electricity, or refine to use them as fuel for transportation or heating. Energy.gov reports that in the past twenty years, nearly three-fourths of all emissions which humans caused came from burning fossil fuels. Material shipment for Pela Case across the North American continent adds to this burning of fossil fuels. The fossil fuels can also be counted as materials used for the creation of the Pela Case which the company does not take into account when proclaiming to have created a zero waste product. The distribution of individual cases to customers is dependent on Amazon’s trucks and warehouses for transportation and distribution which are creating some extra carbon material around the earth’s atmosphere and wasting nonrenewable resources. The transportation and distribution of the Pela Case proves to be less sustainable than the process of disposing of the case.

The life cycle of a Pela smartphone case ends in a composting facility to become an enrichment to the soil. This allows the case to become the soil from which some of its bio-based materials were made of. This is sustainable and renewable as the life cycle of the Pela Case can continue on. The bio resin meets the compostability standards ASTM D6400 and EN 13432. Terratek Flex bioplastic elastomer is a pioneer in its category to meet the U.S. and E.U. compostability standards. Pela Case is certified compostable and can biodegrade in an industrial composting facility environment but takes over half a year to compost completely. Green Dot bioplastics disintegrate within twelve weeks and biodegrade at least ninety percent within one hundred eighty days according to the Bioplastics Magazine. Biodegradable polymers can be composted but not reused unlike traditional thermoplastics. Traditional thermoplastics can last longer without decomposing and therefore be reused, but the end of their life cycle would be in the landfill. Pela Case is not creating waste after it is used and has a shorter life cycle without the ability to be reused or recycled.

The raw materials used in Pela Case are bioplastic elastomer and flax straw materials- flax fiber, flax shive, are bio-based materials. Even though Pela Case is a biobased product as its makers claim, it is not a “zero waste” product. The zero waste claim can only be true if not taking into consideration any of the processes involved in the making of the product. Being bio based does not mean that the materials in this product or used in its production or distribution are one hundred percent organic, sustainable and renewable. Its packaging includes cardboard while its distribution involves plastic and fossil fuel use. These composing materials of the case are 45% bio based. The flax components are renewable while Pela claims that “the remaining 55% of ...Flaxstic formulation is comprised of non renewable resources.” Pela company is true to its material compostability claims for the Pela phone case, yet fails to inform on how much production and distribution contribute to material waste. Materials involved in distribution of the Pela Case has significant waste emissions due to the use of fossil fuels. Pela Case can biodegrade in an industrial composting facility environment, but takes over six months to compost completely. The plastics and cardboard used in material shipment are not being dealt with and continue to end up in landfills where they are not decomposing or composting quickly. On the other hand the product is made of bioplastics that use less fossil fuels and greenhouse gas than plastics and therefore are creating a lesser carbon footprint than plastic and reduced carbon emissions. Biobased content of Pela Case is forty five percent while the remaining fifty five percent of the materials composing its Flaxstic® is made of non renewable resources.

Bibliography

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Models to Flax Fiber /Wood Fiber/ Plastic Composites." BioResources [Online], 8.3 (2013): 3276-3288. Web. 25 Oct. 2019

Downie, R. H."US6482872B2 - Process For Manufacturing A Biodegradable Polymeric Composition - Google Patents". Patents.Google.Com, 2019.

"Flaxstic | Open Mind Developments". Openminddevelopments.Com, 2019, http://www.openminddevelopments.com/flaxstic/. Accessed 25 Oct 2019.
Jane, J. et al. "Biodegradable Plastics Made From Agricultural Biopolymers". ACS Symposium Series, 1994, pp. 92-100. American Chemical Society, doi:10.1021/bk-1994-0575.ch006. Accessed 25 Oct 2019.

Lang, J. (2019). Eco-Friendly iPhone, Google and Samsung Cases - 100% Biodegradable– Pela Case. Pelacase.com. Available at: https://pelacase.com/ Accessed 3 Dec. 2019.
La Rosa, A.D. "Life Cycle Assessment Of Biopolymers". ​Biopolymers And Biotech Admixtures

For Eco-Efficient Construction Materials​, 2016, pp. 57-78. ​Elsevier​, doi:10.1016/b978-0-08-100214-8.00004-x. Accessed 20 Nov 2019.

Liebermann B. E. "US5354621A - Biodegradable Construction Material And Manufacturing Method - Google Patents". Patents.Google.Com, 2019, https://patents.google.com/patent/US5354621A/en. Accessed 24 Oct 2019.

Poilâne, C. et al. "Polymer Reinforced By Flax Fibres As A Viscoelastoplastic Material". Composite Structures, vol 112, 2014, pp. 100-112. Elsevier BV, doi:10.1016/j.compstruct.2014.01.043. Accessed 25 Oct 2019.

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Service Polymers, Inc. "Bioplastics". ​Servicepolymers.Com,​ 2019, https://www.servicepolymers.com/bioplastics. Accessed 11 Nov 2019.

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Maria Vargas

Christina Cogdell

Group 9

DES 40A 01

Embodied Energy in the Life-Cycle of the Pela Phone Case

Everyday, we abstain from using plastic water bottles and instead refill our HydroFlasks or Klean Kanteens, switch from plastic to stainless steel, silicone, or bamboo straws, opt for the Diva Cup in replacement of single-use, individually packaged menstrual products, and make many other gradual changes in efforts to reduce our individual environmental impact. Clearly, many of these items have decreased our consumption and waste accumulation, but what about the materials many of these are made of? Replacing plastic with metal, silicone, or just sturdier plastic may not be where the future should go. This is the issue that a company by the name of Pela is currently challenging.

A Case Made by Pela

In 2011, Open Mind Developments, founded by Jeremy Lang, created Flaxstic. This new material became the basis for the Pela Case. Like a plastic phone case, the Pela Case is sturdy, slick, and shock-resistant. Unlike an ordinary plastic phone case however, “the biopolymers [used] to make the Pela Case are plant-based and the manufacturing requires up to 50% less non-renewable energy and produces up to 60% less greenhouse gases than traditional plastic polymers,” according to the Pela website.

The processes by which the bioplastic known as Flaxstic is made, the transportation of the product from manufacturing centers to the sellers to consumers, and the process of disposing of this “biodegradable” cell phone case adds significantly to its total embodied energy.​ ​This paper will analyze key steps in the life-cycle of the Pela phone case that compose the embodied energy, demonstrating that while claiming to be eco-friendly, the product is less sustainable in regards to the energy it requires to live out one full life-cycle.

Harvesting Flax

As mentioned, the primary material in the Pela Phone Case is flax straw waste, the excess that results from growing oilseed flax in Saskatchewan, Canada. According to Open Mind Developments, “flax fiber and flax shive are obtained from annually renewable flax straw ‘waste’. Saskatchewan grows the most oilseed flax in the world and the flax straw is often seen as waste and burned because it is too difficult to break down in the field.” Growing flax, like any other crop, requires specific seeding, watering and harvesting practices. In turn, each of these require certain types of machinery to complete a vital step in the cultivation of flax.

The process goes like this: seeds are sown into the tilled field using a grain drill, moisture sensors dictate irrigation, and combines straight-cut the flax, leaving behind the flax straw. In a typical growing and harvesting process, straw management goes any of four ways: using a stripper header to combine the straw, burning the straw in large piles, or baling it for potential buyers. In the making of the Pela Case, most of these steps are skipped over to make use of the straw residue of the flax harvest.

The first step, tilling the field, requires approximately 0.65 diesel gallons per acre (Ayres). Planting, as mentioned, requires a grain drill. This device sows the seeds 2.5 to 4.0 centimeters deep in the soil while the press wheels firm the surrounding soil (Ayres). This process amounts to approximately 0.30 diesel gallons per acre (Ayres). The third step is harvesting using a stripper header, otherwise known as a combine. These machines require about 1.00 diesel gallons per acre (Ayres). Lastly, the baler, whose function is to bunch together the straw for storing and transporting, uses about 0.40 diesel gallons per acre (Ayres). Other steps such as weed control and hauling require approximately 0.60 extra diesel gallons per acre(Ayres). All together this rough estimation makes 2.95 gallons of diesel consumed in one acre. The average acre yields between 1200 and 1400 pounds of flax (Delate). In Western Canada, roughly 800,000 tonnes of flax was produced in 2014 (Narduzzi). In one year, more than 4 million gallons of diesel were consumed to fuel machinery in the production of flax. Because the straw waste comes from the production of flax, it is important to consider this factor in the life cycle of the Pela Case. The production of the primary raw material consumes a large amount of energy, considering the extraction of the required petroleum, distillation to diesel when it is used to fuel the machines. Already, Pela’s claim to use 50% less non-renewable energy than plastic stacked against these rough estimations of diesel fuel consumption, starts to look bleak.

Flax Straw to Flaxstic to Phone Case

Much of the energy we can measure, so to speak, concentrates on the growing and making of Flaxstic. Transporting the flax straw to the Pela manufacturing centers adds to the total cost of transportation energy. To make the flax into a material resembling plastic requires energy. The bioplastic elastomer, organic material in Flaxstic, must be heated at approximately 300 degrees fahrenheit. In addition, Pela claims to use “local injection mold facility and a local engraver in Saskatchewan.” Since the flax is grown in Saskatchewan, minimal distance must be traveled to get the raw material to facilities where it is treated and made into Flaxstic, injected into molds, and engraved to display various designs. Because Pela and Open Mind Developments does not source its materials and labor from other countries, it is safe to assume that this way of creating the phone case is more energy efficient than plastic cases. When the Flaxstic is made into a phone case, all there is left to do is ship it out into the world.

The Pela Case much be packaged and shipped to retailers and consumers, whether that be Target stores, or delivering right to someone’s door. Pela does sell a bulk of its products through Amazon, so the energy used by the Amazon delivery trucks and warehouses should be accounted for. Much of the phone cases are ordered directly from the Pela website, so transportation in this case is important as well.

Cradle to Cradle

According to Pela, “when you no longer need your Pela Case, you can place it in your backyard compost or compost bin.” They estimate this process to take between six months to two years. This poses benefits in redirecting the straw waste from growers, who otherwise burn the straw in piles, to an efficient method of composting after use. This process does not add any energy to the Pela Case life-cycle since it breaks down on its own, no recycling facilities or sorting required, just a backyard suited for compost.

On the other hand, despite their acceptance of used cases to be passed on to new ownership, shipping in both directions adds to fuel and other forms of energy that continue the life cycle. Pela accepts used cases and sends them out to new customers instead of disposing them. This process does require energy in shipping the case back to Pela and from Pela to another customer. Perhaps a few of these instances can make a difference in lowering inventory and the energy otherwise consumed in making a brand new case for a new customer. The shipping energy discussed earlier, however, should then be estimated higher to account for the extra trips a case may take.

Pela’s Potential

From the start, it is clear where Pela is energy efficient and where improvement is needed. The way that flax straw is made inevitably consumes a significant amount of non-renewable energy in the form of petroleum, or diesel, hence the transparent information on their website: “The remaining 55% of our current Flaxstic formulation is comprised of non renewable resources. So, it’s not yet made of 100% renewable materials.” In order to move closer to a more sustainable product, this big step in its making would need to improve. Transportation also consumes a large amount of energy to get the cases into the hands of consumers and reusing some cases instead of buying new, an inherently sustainable option that could improve by providing an alternative to shipping the product back and to another customer. Despite these weaknesses, Pela does prove to have great potential in making products that require a fraction of the energy needed to source materials, make, and recycle plastic. The best example is that the phone case can break down naturally in the backyards of its consumers, a fate favorable in contrast to plastic.

Bibliography

Admin. “Flaxstic.” ​Open Mind Developments​, 26 May 2015, http://www.openminddevelopments.com/flaxstic/​.

Ayres, George, and Mark Hanna. “Fuel Required for Field Operations.” ​Machinery Management​, Apr. 2001.

Delate, Kathleen. “Flax.” ​Iowa State University Extension and Outreach​, 2013, https://www.extension.iastate.edu/alternativeag/cropproduction/flax.html​.

Figueroa, Maria, et al. “Energy for Transport.” ​Annual Reviews​, Oct. 2014, https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-environ-031913-100450.

“How Your Package Gets from Amazon's Warehouse to Your Front Door.” ​US About Amazon,​ 24 July 2019, https://www.aboutamazon.com/amazon-fulfillment/our-fulfillment-centers/ how-your-package-gets-from-amazons-warehouse-to-your-front-door/.

Liebermann, Benno E. "Biodegradable construction material and manufacturing method." U.S. Patent No. 5,354,621. 11 Oct. 1994

Narduzzi, Dilia. “What to Do with That Flax Straw.” ​Grainews,​ 10 Apr. 2015, https://www.grainews.ca/2015/04/10/what-to-do-with-that-flax-straw/​.

Shreider, M. "Mechanization of Flax Harvesting." ​Tekh Sel'skom Khoz​ 8 (1970): 85,p. 85. ProQuest​. 25 Oct. 2019 .

Strakšas, A. "Development of a stripper-header for grain harvesting." ​Agronomy research​ 4.1 (2006): 79-89.

“The Ultimate Pela Case FAQ - Your Questions, Answered.” ​Pela Case,​ https://pelacase.com/pages/the-ultimate-pela-case-faq-your-questions-answered​.

Malia Helms

Maria Vargas, Zhanna Kravtsova

DES 40

Professor Cogdell

Waste and Emissions of a Pela Phone Case

A Pela phone case is designed to be a “zero waste” product which will compost/biodegrade when one is done using it. It is composed of flax plant fibers and a bioplastic, called Flaxstic, to create a durable case, and only in the correct composting facility conditions will the case begin decomposition (Open Mind Developments)(Presidio Sports). Pela advertises to their customers that the Pela phone case is 100% compostable and eco friendly and that each case purchased prevents more plastic production and environmental plastic pollution. It is true that plastic takes hundreds to thousands of years to decompose and affects many living organisms negatively and the compostable materials in the Pela phone case is a more environmentally friendly option (Sourodi). But, are these zero waste claims true for the ​complete cradle to cradle lifecycle of a Pela phone case? In other words is the Pela phone case truly zero waste and plastic free during all of the following stages: raw materials acquisition, manufacturing, processing, formulation, distribution, transportation, use, reuse, maintenance, recycling, and waste management? In this paper, these claim is examined by analyzing the waste and pollution created during the complete cradle to cradle life cycle of a Pela phone case.

Pela is using waste material to create the phone case product, meaning they have reduced emissions and wastes during raw material acquisition and product processing and formulation. They take the dried “hay” fiber byproduct from flax seed processing, which would otherwise be disposed of through incineration, and incorporate it into the phone case material (Pela. How to Make A Pela Case). Being so, their acquisition or production of the flax material has already occurred, so their waste is offset compared to other phone case products which need to have a machine process to create and mix their plastics/resins (Pilla). Overall, the main emissions resulting from materials acquisition occurs during the transportation/shipping of the materials to the Pela case factory in Canada. Shipping is completed through using planes, automobiles, and cargo ships; all of these transportation methods burn fossil fuels and release GHGs. The second main material, bioplastic resin, requires shipping and a heating process, completed by machines, to create different phone case moulds and colored cases. The machines, powered by electricity, indirectly cause GHG emissions since natural gas is used to provide that power (CO2 emissions). Other than these GHG emissions there is little to no waste or byproducts created when processing and forming the product. Material that was cut out and removed from the case to create the shape and design are not thrown away. Instead, it is placed back into the machine heating process to be melted down and reused. Although, during the raw materials acquisition, manufacturing, processing, and formulation of a Pela case is technically not zero waste, there is a significant decrease in waste products and emissions from these steps when compared to other plastic products (Le Duigou). This is because the Pela case is using byproducts and natural materials for main raw materials. There are also inevitable wastes and emissions that come with packing and distributing the phone case.

Pela does not have a direct store or chain of stores that sell their products, so they must distribute and ship the case in packaging when an order is placed which inevitably creates waste and emits greenhouse gasses. Pela packages their phone cases in thin recycled cardboard/paper envelopes with zero plastic packaging besides the shipping sticker. These envelopes will most likely be tossed in a recycling bin or a composting bin, but some will end up in the landfill where it will not be repurposed and becomes waste. It should also be noted that recycling materials takes a large amount of input energy and therefore releases GHGs. Moreover, recycling materials usually requires more energy than it does to create a completely new material which makes the reuse of the material zero waste but not zero waste in regards to energy usage and GHG emissions (Morris). Pela also ships their phone cases all over the world including countries like Romania, Kazakhstan, India and Ukraine even though they only have one facility that produces phone cases in Saskatchewan, Canada (Pela). These shipping methods will generate wastes and emissions as they burn fossil fuels. For example, consider the following statistics and calculation of CO2 emitted when a phone case is flown from Canada to Kazakhstan. Shipping from Canada to Kazakhstan takes about 5246 miles of air travel, and the mpg of a cargo plane is about 0.54 aircraft miles/gallon gasoline (DistanceFromTo) (Air Cargo Update). Furthermore, about 19.46 lbs of CO2 are released per gallon of gasoline that is burnt (EIA).

Calculation of CO2 Emitted by Shipping Phone Case from Canada to Kazakhstan 0.54 miles × 5246 miles = 9714.81 gallons of gasoline

1 gal gasoline
9714.81 gallons of gasoline × 19.46 lbs CO2 = 189050.2 lbs of CO2 released

gal gasoline

Therefore, flying 5246 miles to Kazakhstan emits about 189,050 lbs of CO2 into the atmosphere. This alone is a huge amount of CO2 released, and with over 100,000 phone cases sold since Pela’s beginnings, it is hard to quantify and fathom the amount of GHGs emitted alone during the shipping of the product to each individual customer. Pela ships their products all around the world requiring the use of fossil fuels and packaging which inevitably creates some waste and emissions making this step in the cradle to cradle lifecycle of a Pela phone case fail to be zero waste. On the other hand, since the product is completely compostable, it is cutting down waste and emissions when the product is no longer functioning or in use as a phone case.

In regards to phone case waste, reuse, recycling, and waste management Pela achieves complete use and function for their product while maintaining waste and emissions relatively low. The direct product “waste” is extremely diminished, and almost all materials are recycled or repurposed. Once the case breaks or is very old, users can mail the product back to headquarters where Pela will reuse the material and incorporate it into new phone cases (Pela. Pela Product Cycle). The case is recycled by heating put back into the production machinery, which of course uses energy and emits GHGs as previously discussed. Another option is to place defective phone cases in a compost bin that would be transported to a composting facility. Only under standard composting facility conditions will the Pela case break down quickly and completely (Martínez-Blanco). The case can be composted in a backyard compost bin, but would take much longer or be ineffective depending on compost conditions. Since the product itself technically does not have any waste as it will be reused or composted into earth matter, the only emissions will occur during the composting and recycling processes. Composting releases mostly carbon dioxide and water and a very small amount of methane (Cadena). When compared to the gases released and time taken to decompose resulting from putting a plastic phone case in a landfill a Pela case is a much more environmentally friendly option when it is no longer useful as a protective phone case (Ibrahim)(Le Duigou).

Pela claims their product is 100% compostable and avoids unnecessary plastic waste in all stages of production and distribution. Their claim of environmental friendliness and zero waste is true to an extent. They obviously do not include the emissions released when manufacturing, distributing, recycling, or composting their products when they say their product is zero waste. The company also creates waste if their packaging is not properly disposed of. Overall, it seems that the main wastes and emissions occur during the transportation of materials and shipping/packaging of the final product. Furthermore, it proved difficult to quantify the wastes and emissions generated throughout the phone case lifecycle since Pela keeps their manufacturing and recycling processes a Trade secret as they are a very new company and are growing rapidly due to customer demand. Nevertheless it is conclusive that the phone case is technically not zero waste in its cradle to cradle lifecycle but is definitely a more eco friendly alternative to phone cases made from plastic.

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Le Duigou, Antoine, et al. “PLLA/Flax Mat/Balsa Bio-Sandwich-Environmental Impact and Simplified Life Cycle Analysis.” ​Applied Composite Materials,​ 2012, doi:10.1007/s10443-011-9201-3.

Martínez-Blanco, Julia, et al. “The Use of Life Cycle Assessment for the Comparison of Biowaste Composting at Home and Full Scale.” ​Waste Management​, 2010, doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2010.02.023.

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Pela. “How To Make A Pela Case.” ​YouTube,​ YouTube, 11 Sept. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LF8aOPlxYM&fbclid=IwAR1QtAws335niI6Ym-Lnv KoqnzqbTcf0U8LJ0a9sAJCG-5U_TjB2wdEctQI.

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Presidio Sports. “Breaking Down Bioplastics.” ​Reporting on the Triple Bottom Line & Sustainable Business News​, Triple Pundit, 2 Dec. 2014, www.triplepundit.com/story/2014/breaking-down-bioplastics/38956.

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