Life Cycle Analysis and Resource Management Dr. Forbes McDougall Procter & Gamble UK

2 Presentation aims: 1) Examine the use of LCA within an overall environmental management framework to assess the environmental impact of packaging options and waste management systems 2) Look at how LCA can be applied to packaging, products and waste management 3) Use LCA to help assess the cost effectiveness of specific environmental initiatives

3 Sustainability is : A balance between the needs of the Environment, the Economy and Society Environmentally effective Economically affordable Socially acceptable SUSTAINABILITY

Economically (and technically) Feasible, An environmental management framework OBJECTIVE Socially acceptable, Environmental Management towards Sustainability

An environmental management framework 1. Ensure Human and Environmental Safety 2. Ensure Regulatory Compliance 3. Ensure Efficient Resource Use and Waste Management 4. Ensure Social Concerns are Addressed OBJECTIVE Economically (and technically) Feasible, Socially acceptable, Environmental Management towards Sustainability

An environmental management framework Safety Human Health Risk Assessment Ecological Risk Assessment Economic analysis Product & process LCA Eco-design Disposal company auditing Material consumption monitoring and reduction Manufacturing site mgmt. systems auditing Manufacturing site environmental auditing Auditing major & new suppliers Resource Use and Waste Management Regulatory Compliance Manufacturing site mgmt.. systems auditing Manufacturing site wastes reporting Material consumption reporting New chemicals testing and registration Product & packaging classification & labeling Understand & anticipate Interact Addressing Social Concerns OBJECTIVE Economically (and technically) Feasible, Socially acceptable, Environmental Management towards Sustainability

An environmental management framework Organisation DECISION MAKING Safety Resource Use and Waste Management Regulatory Compliance Manufacturing site mgmt.. systems auditing Manufacturing site wastes reporting Material consumption reporting New chemicals testing and registration Product & packaging classification & labeling Addressing Social Concerns OBJECTIVE Economically (and technically) Feasible, Socially acceptable, Environmental Management towards Sustainability Data Human Health Risk Assessment Ecological Risk Assessment Economic analysis Product & process LCA Eco-design Disposal company auditing Material consumption monitoring and reduction Manufacturing site mgmt. systems auditing Manufacturing site environmental auditing Auditing major & new suppliers Understand & anticipate Interact

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) within the overall environmental management framework RESOURCE USE AND WASTE MANAGEMENT Economic analysis Product and process LCA Eco-design Disposal company auditing Material consumption monitoring and reduction Manufacturing site management systems auditing Auditing major & new suppliers

Interpretation Goal & scope definition Inventory Analysis Impact Assessment Direct applications : Product development and improvement. Strategic planning. Public policy making. Marketing. Other. Life Cycle Assessment framework - not included in an LCI study Phases of LCA (taken from ISO 14040) - included in an LCI study

10 Decreasing objectivity and reliability across a LCA

The Impact Assessment phase of LCA: is a simple indicator system has no direct linkage to environmental effects or significance often uses subjective judgments and scores is not easy to use for comparisons

What is a Life Cycle Inventory? The first two stages of a full Life Cycle Assessment Goal definition Inventory analysis Together constitute the process of Life Cycle Inventory

LCI is a tool for predicting the environmental burdens associated with particular products or services A LCI is an inventory of all the systems : Inputs Inputs (in terms of resources, including energy) Outputs Outputs (in terms of emissions to air water and land) LCI can therefore identify opportunities to optimize life cycles by: Reducing resource use Reducing resource use Producing fewer emissions Producing fewer emissions What does a LCI do?

Energy Water Raw Materials Raw Material Sourcing Processing Manufacture Distribution Use Post consumer Disposal Airborne emissions Waterborne emissions Solid Waste INPUTSOUTPUTS System boundary for a Life Cycle Inventory

LCI BOUNDARY Raw Material extraction Manufacture Distribution Use Waste management Life Cycle of a Product

Raw Material extraction Manufacture Distribution Use Waste management PRODUCTS LCA BOUNDARY Life Cycle of Solid Waste

LCA for Manufacturers Raw Material extraction Manufacture Distribution Use Waste management PRODUCTS LCA for Waste Managers Practical Environment Optimisation

Detergent LCI: results Overall profile for the UK (compact detergent) Solid waste Energy CO 2 BOD Supply Manufacturing Consumer Packaging WWTP

> 70% of energy consumption occurs at consumer phase, due to heating of water. CO2 emissions are mainly energy related. > 98% of the BOD emissions occur at the WWTP, this represents less than 8% of total BOD present in product (weighted average). Solid waste represents ashes from energy combustion, packaging and sludge generation. Detergent LCI: interpretation of results

20 Nappy LCA: results Concluded: “there was no significant difference between any of the environmental impacts – that is, overall no system clearly had a better or worse environmental performance.” UK Environment Agency study May 2005

21 Sustainable Waste Management Environmentally effective Economically affordable Socially acceptable Needs to be

22 A Waste Management Hierarchy A hierarchy lists options in order of “preference” Reuse Reduce Materials Recovery Energy Recovery Landfill/ Incineration (without Energy Recovery)

23 Has no measurable scientific basis Cannot consider combinations of treatment technologies Does not address cost issues Waste Hierarchy Has limitations

24 Solid Waste Management Accepting the concept of an integrated approach to solid waste management Using a Life Cycle Assessment tool (computer model) to optimise the integrated waste management system Sustainable Systems can be engineered by :

25 IWM : Takes an overall approach and manages waste in an environmentally effective and economically affordable way Involves the use of a range of different treatment options at a local level Considers the entire solid waste stream Integrated Waste Management (IWM) The Concept

26 MATERIALS RECYCLING BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT THERMAL TREATMENT LANDFILL COLLECTION & SORTING Integrated Waste Management (IWM) Includes :

27 IWM Systems Overall environmental burdens (Overall economic cost) Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool makes this possible How can we plan systems that are environmentally and economically sustainable ?

28 OUTPUTS Air Emissions Water Emissions Residual Landfill Material INPUTS Waste Energy Other Materials Money COLLECTION & SORTING Secondary Materials Compost Useful Energy MATERIALS RECYCLING BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT THERMAL TREATMENT LANDFILL PRODUCTS Integrated Waste Management A Life Cycle Assessment

Environmental Effectiveness IWM USE Raw material sourcing Manufacture Distribution Retail PRODUCTS Waste Management USE Raw material sourcing Manufacture Distribution Retail PRODUCTS Waste Management SEGREGATED WASTE MANAGEMENT INTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENT

30 Solid Waste LCA originally used to compare products/packaging from “cradle to grave” A Life Cycle Model A Life Cycle model for solid waste calculates: total energy consumption emissions to air and water final solid waste (overall economic costs)

31 Life Cycle Models Net energy consumption Air emissions Water emissions Landfill volume (residual) Recovered materials Compost Results

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33 From Life Cycle Model results to sustainability Environmental sustainability more useful products less emissions less final inert waste less energy consumed (Economic sustainability) less money to pay for the system

34 Using LCA to help assess the cost effectiveness of specific environmental initiatives Use existing waste management strategy as “Baseline”, model entire system including all relevant costs Compare the performance of different Integrated Waste Management strategies Choose optimum Integrated Waste Management strategy based on needs of local environment, economy and population Strategy development Comparisons using Life Cycle model results

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36 How to choose between options ? Single criterion - where there is a single over-riding concern (e.g. lack of landfill space) Multiple criteria - where more than one issue is important (e.g. energy consumption and air emissions) “Less is better” - where one option is lower in all categories Impact analysis - combine categories that contribute to the same effect such as global warming

37 LCA IWM concept and LCA tools can help us move towards affordable environmental sustainability Using LCA is better than other arbitrary approaches More and higher quality data are needed, to make better decisions A variety of waste management systems are required to meet local needs Conclusions

38 Our contribution English version - combined sales of over 10,000 copies Also available in Spanish, Chinese and Japanese Life Cycle models for Municipal Solid Waste now produced by UK EA, US EPA, and in Germany, Austria, Netherlands, France, Portugal, Australia ……

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