A life cycle analysis (LCA) evaluates the environmental impact of a manufactured product by assessing the inventory of materials and processes involved and measuring their effect on the planet and society. LCAs come in all shapes and sizes, such as comparative, informative, cradle-to-gate, gate-to-gate, cradle-to-grave and cradle-to-cradle.

Knowing the type and scope of a study is critical to understanding its findings. Below are a few definitions:
 

Cradle-to-gate. This type of study only takes into account the raw materials that go to the converter, the cost of transport to the manufacturing site, the actual manufacturing process, and the packaging or filling of the product plus the cost of transport to the merchandising site.
 

Gate-to-gate. A partial LCA that examines only one value-added process in the entire chain. Gate-to-gate modules may be later incorporated into full evaluations.
 

Cradle-to-grave. Taking the cradle-to-gate study two steps further, this LCA includes the environmental cost of the actual use and disposal of the product and/or packaging.

Cradle-to-cradle. Going even further than cradle-to-grave, this type of LCA, also known as C2C, encompasses the benefits of recycling and, where paperboard is concerned, the sequestration of carbon dioxide as a result of replanting the trees used in paperboard packaging.