Streamlined Life Cycle Assessment tool for injection molding of plastic components: a literature review

Abstract

Goal: Companies are increasingly concerned about the life cycle of their products in the economic and environmental perspectives. One of the processes that generates great financial returns is the injection molding process. But this process results in many impacts to the environment. The environmental concern has generated many studies involving this theme and the difficulty of measuring the impacts generated by this process. In view of the environmental concern and the injection molding process this study aims to review in the literature on eco-design tools based on the Streamlined Life Cycle Assessment of plastic injection molded products.Design / Methodology / Approach: The review of the literature was carried out by researching for complete articles published in three databases (Science Direct, Scopus and Web of Science), among the years 2013 - 2018, using combinations of keywords and Boolean operators.Results: Several studies revealed that injection molding generates many impacts, such as the high consumption of electricity caused by the emission of greenhouse gases and use of raw material.Limitations of the investigation: This paper is not free of limitations. The study analyzed the literature through three databases for a period of time and used a combination of keywords. It may be that some document has not been analyzed.Practical implications: The development of a rapid tool for the application of LCA studies will allow quick decision-making to the managers in the environmental perspective, besides reducing costs, reducing time with the application of complex studies, and assisting the designer to develop the Eco-design.Originality / Value: The study addressed the injection molding process and there are no studies in the literature that characterize this theme. Thus, a study that addresses this gap and evidences the importance of the development of an environmental tool that assists sustainable practices in the process of plastic injection molding becomes important.