Eco-design as a normative element of Environmental Management Systems—the context of the revised ISO 14001:2015

Abstract

Purpose The aim of this article is to signal the changes envisaged by ISO TC/207 SC1 for introduction in the new version of ISO 14001:2015 as well as to discuss the role of eco-design and life cycle thinking (LCT) in the context of Environmental Management Systems (EMS). Methods A review of the proposed changes to be introduced in the new version of ISO 14000:2015 with particular emphasis on those related to LCT and eco-design has been carried out. Additionally, for the purpose of this article, the guidelines with regard to ISO 14006:2011 have been analysed in the context of the role that eco-design plays in an EMS. Results The new version of ISO 14001:2015 includes many direct and indirect references to LCT. One of the key changes is organisations adapting a wider perspective to see how their environmental impact stretch across the whole supply chain. Another key recommendation is to use eco-design for identifying and assessing the environmental aspects in relation to products. The whole life cycle of the products should be analysed, which will result in the inclusion of indirect environmental aspects that are beyond the direct control of the organisation. Conclusions The planned changes to ISO 14001:2015 with regard to the use of LCT and eco-design should be seen as a significant piece of information by eco-designers and life cycle assessment (LCA) practitioners since they provide a real opportunity to increase interest in eco-design tools amongst the environmental managers responsible for the environmental management systems within their organisations. It seems that now is the right time to initiate information campaigns and training on eco-design and LCA tailored specifically for organisations, which have implemented environmental management systems.

Total Life Cycle of Polypropylene Products: Reducing Environmental Impacts in the Manufacturing Phase

“…Credits for steam and electric power can be substituted for the primary energy supply (energy recirculation). In the long term, the most economical technologies are environmentally friendly and energy-saving ones that can raise the economic efficiency and innovation index of a company [56,57]. Figure 8 presents the normalized and weighted values for eight examined environmental impact categories in the end-of-life stage of the tested product.…”

Environmental Classification of Products in a Context of Ecodesign in Small and Medium Enterprises

“…The other source of motivation might be the suggestion to introduce ecodesign as a solution for the development of products in EMS. In practice, this should mean the development and implementation of ecodesign procedures in order to identify and assess environmental aspects linked to products over their entire life cycles (EN ISO 14006, 2011;Lewandowska and Matuszak-Flejszman, 2014: 1794-1798. In practice it means the implementation of the POEMS concept (Rocha and Silvester, 2014;Ammenberg and Sundin, 2005: 405-415;Donnelly et al, 2006Donnelly et al, :1357Donnelly et al, -1367.…”

EMAS: unfulfilled expectations and challenges associated with the planned publication of the new ISO 14001:2015

“…In the revised ISO 14001 standard there will be a requirement to consider a life-cycle perspective during identifying and evaluating environmental aspects [11][12][13]. Although it is not expected that organisations will need to carry out detailed life-cycle assessments, which is defined as "compilation and evaluation of the inputs, outputs and the potential environmental impacts of a product system throughout its life cycle" [13][14][15] but it means that companies will need to think beyond the areas where they have direct control and take into consideration also their indirect influence. According to revised standard an environmental impact should be considered also during design and development processes and must be included into an organisation's supply chain with implications for procurement.…”