1. 21 st Annual Conference

2. Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world Mercury Lamps - Life Cycle Assessment for Product Stewardship Peter Garrett – ERM New Zealand 15 th October 2009

3. Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world 3 Agenda Who is ERM? LCA and product stewardship Key points of LCA process Case study: Mercury lamps in NZ

4. Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world 4 ERM – Worldwide Environmental Consultancy 350 staff in Australia and New Zealand ERM services in this area: Product Stewardship Accreditation Assessors (NZ MfE) Life cycle management (LCM) and assessment (LCA) Waste management -Strategy -Minimisation -Technology appraisal -Forecasting

5. Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world 5 Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Cradle to grave environmental accounting exchanges of energy and materials with the environment at each stage of the life cycle emissions to air, land and water 1960s energy analysis, developed by SETAC in the 1980s and ISO in the 1990s (ISO 14040/44) Streamlined LCA simplifies the full-blown approach Carbon footprinting is streamlined LCA through consideration of only carbon (global warming impacts)

6. Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world 6 LCA, Product Stewardship & Waste Management LCA is best-practice method for assessing environmental impacts for product stewardship and waste management: NZ Waste Minimisation Act supports life cycle approach under Product Stewardship EU thematic strategy on waste – life cycle approach EU Integrated Product Policy – life cycle approach UNEP Environment programme on Life Cycle Management Defra (UK) LCA assessments formally integrated into the Business cases for PFI for waste Harvard Business Review September 2009 – LCA needs to be a core business competence

7. Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world 7 Impacts Across Value Chains Impacts occur at every stage of the product life cycle Controlling direct impacts can lead to burden shifting and may be counter-productive Need to take an holistic view INDIRECT DIRECT Retail TransportProductionDistribution Storage & Retail Transport Storage & Consumption Disposal Raw Materials

8. Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world 8 Define the Life Cycle System Define aim of LCA Define product equivalence define study flow Set system boundary identify life cycle stages use appropriate cut-off Quantify the flows Calculate the impacts Interpret and assess results and options Data collection and selection is key: ensure consistency and transparent assumptions

9. Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world 9 Effective Decision Support Benefits of LCA for Product Stewardship: Scientifically robust results Reduces risk Understand environmental benefits Supports decision making: -inform policy -inform marketing claims -support green purchasing -basis for awards/credentials -use in product design/development process -aid investment decisions (eg waste technology/manufacturing)

10. Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world 10 LCA Applications Applications: An individual A product/service A site A business A sector A new enterprise Any choice

11. Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world 11 Mercury lamps in NZ

12. Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world 12 Background Fully ISO compliant LCA Aim to understand the environmental impacts of mercury-containing lamps to help inform potential policy under Waste Minimisation Act Inform the evidence base for discussions with stakeholders on policy options Series of three reports on mercury: (1) New Zealand Lighting Industry Product Stewardship Scheme (PHASE 1 Assessment) and (2) Review and Mercury Inventory for New Zealand 2008 Issues surrounding: -What are the impacts of mercury? -Is a take-back scheme environmentally beneficial? »What effect does take-back collection rate have? »How does mercury-level effect the impacts? -What effect will lamp lifetime and efficiency have? Links will be available at:

13. Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world 13 Goal & Scope 1. Assess typical mercury- containing lamps in New Zealand 2. Determine whole-life environmental impacts: raw materials, import, lamp production, distribution, use, and waste management 3. Assessed over 100,000 hours of operation Results are not comparable across lamp types

14. Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world 14 Life Cycle for Lamps Scenarios: Recovery and recycling rates of 0%, 9%, 50% and 80% Reduced mercury level by 20% Extended lifetime of 50% Increased operating efficiency 10% Benefits of recycled materials

15. Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world 15 Study Results – Not yet published! Full range of environmental impacts: -depletion of resources; -global warming; -stratospheric ozone depletion; -human toxicity; -fresh-water and marine aquatic eco-toxicity; -terrestrial ecotoxicity; -photo-oxidant formation; -acidification; and -eutrophication. Result shown by: By life cycle stage (manufacture, transport, use, disposal, recycling/recovery) By lamp type Benefits of options assessed Issues of economics and of practicability (e.g. consumer engagement) are outside of the scope of this study

16. Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world 16 Study Outcomes – Mercury Lamps in NZ Scientifically based results of environmental impacts Externally reviewed, ISO compliant, New Zealand specific Identify scale of environmental benefits across supply chain Of increased recycling/recovery Comparable within lamp types Prioritise where impacts/benefit arise in the life cycle Risk minimisation Inform government policy / targets / legislation Transparent and open information to industry Results published by end 2009

17. Delivering sustainable solutions in a more competitive world 17 Any questions? Thank you for listening

18. 21 st Annual Conference