Launch of new Technoform calculator for reducing product carbon footprint
New PCF calculator enables informed assessment of greenhouse gases for plastic profiles and calculation of product carbon footprint (PCF)
Lohfelden, 2 September 2025
Technoform Kunststoffprofile GmbH, a specialist in the extrusion of thermoplastics, has launched a product carbon footprint (PCF) calculator. This new tool can be used to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions of specific plastic profiles. The company is now better positioned to deal with increasing regulatory requirements such as the EU-wide CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) – and can provide customers with sound information for the decarbonisation of their products. The calculator also helps the company to fulfil its own and its customers’ sustainability efforts, as it enables alternative, more resource-efficient materials to be used.
“Today, companies have a greater responsibility than ever to reduce their ecological footprint,”
says Dr. Thorge Brünig, Managing Director of Technoform Kunststoffprofile GmbH. With the new PCF calculator, Technoform can provide standards-based data that customers from a vast range of industries can use to identify their specific greenhouse gas reduction potential.
“Our aim is to use the custom calculation to reduce emissions. Using recycled material, redesigns or material development projects will enable us to lower product carbon footprints by up to 75 per cent in future,”
says Brünig.
Calculation based on international standards
The PCF calculator was specially designed for use in material and product management. In individual consultations, it provides customers with transparency regarding material use and the resulting impact on the climate. It is based on recognised standards like the GHG Protocol Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard and ISO 14067.
Drawing on location-specific process data, supplier data and raw-material-specific parameters, the calculator enables production optimisation and informed greenhouse gas assessment throughout the entire specified scope (cradle to gate) as the basis for material adjustments and contour changes.
Virgin material vs recycled material
The calculator can take into account different material variants, such as new material versus recycled, facilitating fact-based decision-making early on in the product development and optimisation process. Valuable data can also be provided for customer sustainability reporting.
With the PCF calculator, Technoform is providing a strategic solution: Technoform’s tailored consultation now has an additional environmental aspect. This means that the positive climate impact achieved by adding recycled material can now be quantified, especially in the context of material selection during product development.
The calculator can be used for any plastic profile, as it enables flexible calculations with a variety of materials. Companies can use the PCF of the plastic profiles and integrate it into their own PCF or CCF calculations.
Pilot project: PCF reduced by around 20% - Potential up to 75%
In a several months-long pilot project with a customer, the expert Technoform team was able to validate the calculator’s potential: Thanks to targeted material savings (-12%), redesign and the integration of 10% ground and re-used production offcuts, the PCF of an existing plastic profile was reduced by roughly 20% – while retaining high product quality. The customer’s disposal costs were also noticeably lower.
“One major advantage is the reusability of our thermoplastic materials, which unlike thermosets can be remelted and fed back into the system,”
explains Sustainability Manager Fabio Späth.
“Our customers’ production waste can generally be ground and fed back into our extrusion process – a perfect example of recycling.”
Dr. Thorge Brünig, Managing Director