Life Cycle Assessment

Life Cycle Assessment
a short smart guide
What is a «product life-cycle?
Life-cycle assessment…
Wastes and
emissions
Raw materials
Human activity
Energy
Products
Why do life-cycle assessment?
Minimize the pollution
Conserve non-renewable resources and
ecological systems
Maximize recycling of materials and waste
Develop and utilize cleaner technologies
Apply the most appropriate pollution
prevention and/or abatement techniques
How can I use LCA?
Manufacturers…
Product development
Product improvement
Product comparison
How can I use LCA?
Public policymakers…
Environmental labeling
Steps in LCA
1) GOAL AND SCOPE
2) LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY (LCI)
3) LIFE CYCLE IMPACT ASSESSMENT
4) INTERPRETATION
LCA OF PACKAGING SYSTEM FOR MILK
UK MARKET ANALYSIS
14 billion litres/year of raw milk
6 billion processed into
liquid milk
LCA OF PACKAGING SYSTEM FOR MILK
1) GOAL AND SCOPE: to assess the potential environmental impact of
different milk container for pasteurised milk
(UK market)
HDPE bottles
Gable-top cartons
Stand-up pouches
Pillow pouches and serving jug
PET bottles
Cartons with screwcap
FUNCTIONS OF THE PRODUCT SYSTEM
Primary functions:
•Containment of a certain quantity of product
•Preservation and protection
•Storage
•Enabling loading and transport
Secondary functions:
•Information
•Image/promotion
•Guarantee
•Consumer satisfaction
FUNCTIONAL UNIT
«The functional unit for this study is typical packaging system for
containing, protecting, storing and transporting 1000
milk to the consumer in the UK»
In the market…
pints of pasteurised
ANALYSIS OF MILK PACKAGING SYSTEM
SYSTEM BOUNDARIES
SYSTEM BOUNDARIES:
Different waste management options
ALLOCATION
«The designation of environmental loads between different parts of a system»
Example
1) divide contribution of milk and
packaging during handling
2) divide contribution of milk and
other groceries during
transportation
ALLOCATION OF SECONDARY PRODUCT AND
RECYCLE
Avoided Burdens Approach
CRITICAL POINTS
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How to consider the no closed loop recycling?
What is the actual fate of the packaging?
Consider a best case scenario
PET production changes from small to high quantities
Missing data for label and seal of secondary packaging, filling process
Different sources for transportation data
Current waste treatment is a mix of the four ones considered in the study
It is not a comparative assessment!!!
CHANGED THE GOAL AND SCOPE?? YES IT IS!!
INVENTORY ANALYSES
Identification and quantification of relevant inputs and outputs
• Raw material
• Water
• Non renewable CO2 emissions
• CH4 emissions
• Energy
HDPE BOTTLES
Material analysis
Label - LDPE
Bottle - HDPE
Cap - HDPE
Seal – polyolefin foam
aluminium, PET
Material analysis
System boundaries for the HDPE bottle system
Summary life cycle inventory
IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Choice of impact categories
1. Abiotic resource depletion
2. Climate change
3. Photo-oxidant formation
4. Eutrophication
5. Acidification
6. Human toxicity
7. Acquatic eco-toxicity
IMPACT ASSESSMENT RESULTS HDPE
IMPACT ASSESSMENT ANALYSIS
IMPACT ASSESSMENT ANALYSIS
IMPACT ASSESSMENT ANALYSIS
INTERPRETATION
1. For plastic bottles the most important environmental load is production
stage
2. For pouches the most important environmental load is distribution
packagin production
3. For the cartons the most important environmental load is laminate
production
4. Hierarchy: 1°minimisation (lightweighting), 2°Rec ycling, 3°energy
recovery, 4°disposal in landfill
5. Bottles to bottles or simply recycling?
CONCLUSION
1. For HDPE bottles the most important environmental load is
production and associated raw material extraction
2. Recycling is the best option as waste managment options.
3. Lightweighting the bottle by 10% shows fewr potential environmental
impacts for all impact categories (es. for climate change and abiotic
resource depletion 5,7% and 7,2% less respectively)
4. Although recycled and lightweighting have been considered
separately, they are not mutually exclusive
LIGHTWEIGHTING
+
MINIMISATION
RECYCLING
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WHAT IS IT?
Waste management is the set of policies,
procedures and methodologies for the
management of waste, from its production until
its final destination.
Ensure that waste, regardless of its final
destination, has a minimal impact on the
environment and on human health.
FOOD PACKAGING INDUSTRY
…a industry of one-way products and increasing waste
products!
On the market
Facilities
Consumer
And the empty packaging?
It’s time to take some decision!
FACTS AND DATA
80 millions of tons/year!
156 kg/per capita (average)
Quantity of overall packaging waste generated and recycled, kg per capita, 2010
Recycling rate for all packaging, 2010
(2008-targets indicated by bars, 2008-target deadline indicated on x-axis)
Share of treatment for overall packaging waste in Europe
(2010)
Volume of plastic packaging waste generated and recycled, per capita, 2010
Recycling rate for plastic packaging, 2010
(2008-targets indicated by bars, 2008-target deadline indicated on x-axis)
Share of recycling and recovery operation for plastics packaging, EU-15, 2008
EUROPEAN WASTE HIERARCHY
EU Waste Directive 2008/98/CE
PREVENTION
Measures - taking before a substance, material or product becomes waste - which
reduce
•the quantity of waste
•the negative impacts of the waste product on the environment and human health
•the content of dangerous substances in the materials and products
It includes the ‘REUSE’ of products or components that have not yet
become waste materials and are repeatedly used for the same purpose
as the original are found in this phase.
Actually, the PREVENTION is out
from WASTE MANAGEMENT
EXAMPLES of PREVENTION
Reduction of the quantity of waste
EXAMPLES of PREVENTION
Reduction of the quantity of waste
Less plastic means
weight reduction.
• Reduction of cost
transportation
• Reduction of CO2 emissions
during transportation
EXAMPLES of PREVENTION
Reduction of the negative impacts of the waste product on the environment
and human health
(Reduction of weight)
BIODEGRADABLE polymers allow for
the use of natural resources and
avoid petroleum waste
Biodegradable materials: materials that eventually break down into CO2,
methane and water through the action of naturally occurring micro-organisms.
BIODEGRADABILITY TEST
Compostability is not a inherent
property of a material but,
eventually, of a product. It
depends on the particular form.
EXAMPLES of PREVENTION
Example of ‘Re-use’ for the
reduction of the quantity of waste
Now
In the past
RECOVERY – PREPARING FOR RE-USE
PREPARING FOR RE-USE
Involves checks, cleaning and repair with which the waste product or
waste product components are prepared in order to allow them to be
re-used without further pre-treatment.
Preparing for re-use is a specific case of RECOVERY
‘re-use’
the material or object
has not become a waste
‘preparing for re-use‘
the material or object
has become waste
(especially not-recyclable
materials, now put in landfill)
EXAMPLES of PREPARING FOR RE-USE
EXAMPLES of PREPARING FOR RE-USE
EXAMPLES of PREPARING FOR RE-USE
Restaurant at Vancouver
(Canada)
RECOVERY – RECYCLING
RECYCLING
Considered any form of recovery through which waste materials are treated in
order to obtain products, materials or substances that are used in their
original functions or for others.
This includes the treatment of organic material but
not the recovery of energy or treatments to obtain
materials for uses as fuel.
The waste has a useful purpose.
THE RESULT OF RECYCLING IS NOT A WASTE!
Biodegradable and
compostable
products should be
throw away with
organic waste.
They produce compost, fertiliser,
useful for agriculture, gardening,
landfill covering.
Actually, no precise
regulation and legislation
are set on final
destination of
biodegradable and not
compostable products.
EXAMPLES of RECYCLING
Plastic bottles
Recycled flakes
Non woven
filter
EXAMPLES of RECYCLING
Recycled Glass bowl
Countertop from recycled glass
Glass
bottles
RECOVERY – OTHER RECOVERY
OTHER RECOVERY
Includes all operations that differ from ‘preparing for re-use’ and ‘recycling’.
It refers specifically to energy recovery and other operations in which the
main result is in “serving a useful purpose by replacing other material.”
Waste undergoes thermal treatments, a range of processes where high
temperature is used to reduce the volume of waste and to turn it harmless
ENERGY
(electric energy
and heat)
WASTE
THERMAL TREATMENT
Incineration
Pyrolisis
Gasification
….
INCINERATION
The waste is burned in ovens and reduced to ashes of extremely reduced volume (20-30% less
than initial volume); the thermal energy of the fumes that are produced is used to produce
water vapour that, passing through a turbine, generates electric energy.
The quantity of recovered electric energy in comparison with the energy utilised is
rather low (19-25%), while thermal energy is much higher.
Incineration is a process that is the subject of significant controversy connected to the emission of pollutants (dioxin,
furans, etc.), which derive from imperfect combustion within the incinerator.
INCINERATION
PYROLISIS and GASIFICATION
Limited O2
No O2
ENERGY (electric energy)
Waste is not burned but is heated at high temperatures
(from 400 to 1200°C depending on the process).
They are based on molecular dissociation and not on combustion
Higher efficiency
Incineration for
Lower impact of gaseous
emissions
DISPOSAL
DISPOSAL
Includes any operation that does not fall under the “Recovery” macrocategory, even when has as a secondary consequence the reclamation of
substances or energy
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Landfilling
Biodegradation of liquid or sludgy discards in soils
Injection of pumpable waste in wells
Salt domes or naturally occurring repositories
Permanent deposit (e.g. emplacement in containers in a mine)
waste dispersion
parasite proliferation
gas production from decomposition (emitting
unpleasant odours, destroys nearby vegetation and
increases the greenhouse effect)
Solutions to minimize that problems (plastic or clay membranes as
containment; extracting and transporting systems for the gases produced
which are then burned and used, for example, for the production of electric
energy).
SUMMING UP
THANK YOU!