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Online version: PDF - DTIE
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UNIT 4: ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS<br />
5.4 Life Cycle Assessment<br />
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a method of assessing the environment impacts of<br />
a product or service during its life cycle – extraction, processing, manufacturing,<br />
transport and distribution, consumption, maintenance, reuse and recycling, and<br />
final disposal. It is a quantitative and scientific analysis, designed to generate<br />
objective information about environment impacts. Economic and social issues only<br />
enter the picture once the scientific analysis is complete.<br />
LCA can be used to:<br />
• Develop new products and services;<br />
• Improve manufacturing/service delivery;<br />
• Provide consumers with credible information on the environment<br />
aspects of products/services;<br />
• Develop environment-preferable purchasing policies;<br />
• Improve the quality of existing products and services.<br />
Specialised life cycle analysis software, together with methodology improvements<br />
and increased data availability, is making LCA easier to carry out.<br />
LCA methodology consists of four main stages.<br />
1. DEFINITION OF THE SCOPE OF THE LCA<br />
Questions arising at this stage include:<br />
• What will the results of the LCA be used for?<br />
• What aspects and functions of the product or service must be taken<br />
into account?<br />
2. INVENTORY ANALYSIS<br />
A detailed inventory of:<br />
• All inputs (land, energy, water, and raw materials used);<br />
• All outputs (waste, emissions and by-products) is developed and<br />
quantified for each process. This information is then developed into a<br />
process flow chart.<br />
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3. IMPACT ASSESSMENT<br />
• The checklist and flow chart are quantified into a number of selected<br />
impact categories;<br />
• These are then weighted in importance.<br />
4. IMPROVEMENT ASSESSMENT<br />
All opportunities to reduce impacts are systematically evaluated.