Application of Eco-Design and Life Cycle Assessment Standards for Environmental Impact Reduction of an Industrial Product

Abstract

Eco-design is included within the framework of the standard for "Environmental management systems-Guidelines for incorporating Eco-design" (ISO 14006:2011). Eco-design process, as defined in standard, has six steps: (i) Specify product functions; (ii) Environmental assessment of products; (iii) Strategies of improvement; (iv) Environmental objectives; (v) Product specification; and (vi) Technical solutions.Step (ii), determination of the stage or process of the product life cycle that has the highest environmental impact; this is perhaps the most controversial step because the standard does not specify which tool should be used. This lack of specification has generated some distrust with regard to eco-design, hindering its development. In order to make a trustworthy eco-design, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) should be applied as a tool for environmental impact quantification. The main objective of this work is to apply standardised eco-design methodology for the reduction of the environmental impact of an industrial product in Spain using LCA as a tool for the environmental product assessment. LCA standardised process (ISO 14040,14044:2006) is included in the eco-design process. A glass container intended for cough syrup delivery has been selected as an industrial product to be eco-designed. Following the methodology described, the overall normalised impact decreased 35.1% when a PET container substituted a glass container. Environmental impacts have been reduced following standardised eco-design and LCA methodologies, serving as an example to industry and administration regarding how to eco-design with the confidence of obtaining reliable results.

LCA Case Study to LED Outdoor Luminaries as a Circular Economy Solution to Local Scale

“…According with their description in Table 1 [28-31] LCA is defined as the collection and evaluation of the inputs and outputs to determine any possible environmental impacts of the element evaluated during its life cycle. Thus, this is a tool for the analysis of the environmental burden of products in all its phases from the extraction of resources, production of components and the product itself, distribution and use of the mentioned product, and its residue management after being discarded, whether re-purposing, recycling, or final disposal [30,31]. The procedure detailed to perform a LCA analysis is composed of four phases: (1) goal and scope definition, (2) life cycle inventory analysis, (3) life cycle impact assessment, and (4) interpretation of results.…”

Review of Emergy Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment: Coupling Development Perspective

“…At present, LCA has been widely used in macroscopic fields, such as industrial sector strategic planning [53,54], public system decision-making optimization [55], economic strategic planning [56], system sustainability development [57], etc. In addition, it is also widely used in microscopic fields, such as industrial building materials [58], the battery industry [59], steel production [60], waste disposal [61], biomass utilization [62], and so on.…”

Eco-design and Eco-efficiency Competencies Development in Engineering and Design Students

“…The literature points out that the well-established eco-design guided by the life cycle assessment of a product and eco-efficient production are vital for the transition to a circular economy [13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Eco-efficiency is based on the idea that fewer natural resources should be used to generate the same, or a greater, amount of economic activity.…”