- Pick a directory product to auto-fill a column — or type your own figures into any cell.
- Add the quantity for your job, each option’s service life, and any maintenance.
- Read the whole-of-life comparison — lower equivalent annual cost is better.
- Download the business case as a PDF, or the spreadsheet with its formulas intact.
Business case
Optional, and you can leave it until last. Name your council and, if you like, edit the summary that leads the exported PDF — the numbers below fill in around it either way.
Leads the downloaded PDF business case. Untouched, it follows the numbers below; once you edit it, your wording is kept — the numbers still update in the tables.
Assumptions
The ground rules applied to every option. The defaults suit most NSW councils — change them only if your own treasury guidance differs.
~4% common NSW LGA default; TPG23-08 uses 5%.
Options
Column 0 is your current (business-as-usual) product; 1 and 2 are recycled alternatives. Fill at least unit cost, quantity and service life in each column you want compared — pick a listing to auto-fill.
Option 0 · baseline | Option 1 · recycled Priced per item. Supplier didn't publish price — enter it yourself. | Option 2 · pooled (optional) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost per unit ($) | |||
| Quantity (units) | |||
| Service / design life (years) | |||
| Annual maintenance per unit ($/yr)Blank = 0 (capital-only) | |||
| Residual / buyback per unit ($) | |||
| Unit mass (kg)From the supplier datasheet | |||
| Recycled content — total (%) | |||
| …of which soft plastics / rLDPE (%)Of the recycled content, not product mass | |||
| Embodied CO₂-e per unit — EPD override (kg)Only where a supplier holds an EPD |
Cost — whole of life
Lower equivalent annual cost is better. Where an option’s service life is missing, break-even shows how long it must last to match your current product — judge that against its warranty and design life.
| Current product | Garden Panel | Option 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equivalent annual cost ($/yr) | — | — | — |
| Scope of this EAC | — | — | — |
| EAC per unit ($/unit/yr) | — | — | — |
| EAC saving vs baseline ($/yr) | — | — | — |
| Upfront premium vs baseline ($) | — | — | — |
| Simple payback (years) | — | — | — |
| Break-even service life (years) | — | — | — |
| Saving over horizon ($) | — | — | — |
Material & greenhouse
IndicativeHow much recycled soft plastic each option diverts, and its modelled greenhouse benefit — the co-benefits alongside cost.
| Current product | Garden Panel | Option 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recycled soft plastic (tonnes) | — | — | — |
| Greenhouse benefit (t CO₂-e) | — | — | — |
Recycled soft plastic tonnage needs no modelling or counterfactual — the more defensible figure. Greenhouse benefit is shown as a range (least- to most-favourable); negative is a benefit.
- Unit cost not provided — no EAC for this option.
- Quantity not provided — no EAC for this option.
- Service life not provided — required for EAC; not assumed.
- Unit mass not established — material and greenhouse figures withheld (not assumed).
- Total recycled content not provided — material and greenhouse figures withheld.
- Soft-plastics share not provided — material and greenhouse figures withheld.
- Quantity not provided — tonnage and greenhouse figures withheld.
Take it away
The PDF drops straight into a report or a council paper; the spreadsheet keeps every formula live so you can keep adjusting. Both use the figures above.
Assumptions used
Register v1 · A1–A2–A3–A4 · NSW EPA (study published by DECCW NSW) 2010
| Ref | Factor | Central | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Avoided primary polymer production | -2.1 t CO₂-e/t | Environmental benefits of recycling, Appendix 6 — Plastics, Table 19 (mixed plastics, kerbside source) · NSW EPA (study published by DECCW NSW) 2010 · GWP 100-yr |
| A2 | Recycling process burden | 0.7 t CO₂-e/t | Environmental benefits of recycling, Appendix 6 — Plastics, Table 19 (mixed plastics, kerbside source) · NSW EPA (study published by DECCW NSW) 2010 · GWP 100-yr |
| A3 | Avoided collection and landfill | -0.2 t CO₂-e/t | Environmental benefits of recycling, Appendix 6 — Plastics, Table 19 (mixed plastics, kerbside source) · NSW EPA (study published by DECCW NSW) 2010 · GWP 100-yr |
| A4 | Published net benefit | -1.5 t CO₂-e/t | Environmental benefits of recycling, Appendix 6 — Plastics, Table 19 (mixed plastics, kerbside source) · NSW EPA (study published by DECCW NSW) 2010 · GWP 100-yr |
- The source model assumes offshore reprocessing (~20,000 km round trip to China). Australia has since banned that export and NSW has domestic reprocessing capacity, so this is a CONSERVATIVE FLOOR for domestically processed material.
- The avoided product is modelled as virgin polypropylene. The factor does not transfer where the counterfactual is a non-polymer material (timber, steel, concrete).
- The dataset uses a 2001–02 electricity mix. The recycling process burden is electricity-intensive and the grid has since decarbonised, so A2 is likely overstated today.