Life Cycle Assessment

Life Cycle Assessment: Laying the Foundation for a Transparent Supply ChainShopping Bag Case StudySeptember 26, 2013Dr. Anahita WilliamsonDirectorKate WinnebeckLCACP, Senior EHS SpecialistNew York State Pollution Prevention Institute at RIT

Life Cycle Assessment Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a technique used to quantify the environmental impact of a product from raw material acquisition through end of life disposition (cradle-to-grave) Reuse Remanufacture Recycle Waste Treatment

LCA Methodology • A Life Cycle Assessment is carried out in four distinct phases: (ISO 14040, 14044) • Step 1: Goal definition and scoping. Identify the LCA's purpose, the products of the study, and determine the boundaries. (what is and is not included in the study) • Step 2: Life-cycle inventory. Quantify the energy and raw material inputs and environmental releases associated with each life cycle phase. • Step 3: Impact analysis. Assess the impacts on human health and the environment. • Step 4: Report results. Evaluate opportunities to reduce energy, material inputs, or environmental impacts at each stage of the product life-cycle.

Step 1: Goal Definition and Scoping Define the goal: • Intended application of the study • Intended audience Define the scope: • Identify the product system to be studied • Define the functional unit • Define the boundaries of the product system • Identify assumptions and limitations of the study • Select impact categories to be included

Today’s Example • You own a grocery store and customers are starting to request that you sell reusable shopping bags. You are curious which type of bag has the lowest environmental impact. In order to quantify and compare the bag options, a streamlined LCA is performed. • Goal: • Determine which grocery bag – single use paper, single use plastic, reusable plastic, or reusable cotton – has the lowest environmental impact Sustainability Victoria, Comparison of existing life cycle analysis of shopping bag alternatives, Apr07.

Draw the System Boundaries • Assumptions: • All bags are manufactured 100km from the customer • All bags travel 10km from the customer to the end of life • Half of paper bags are recycled at end of life, half go to landfill • Plastic & cotton bags go to landfill at end of life • As a group, draw the boundaries or process flow of the system

System Boundaries Single use & reusable plastic bag Packaging & Distribution Use Landfill Extracting petroleum Transform petroleum into plastic Form plastic into bags Paper bag Packaging & Distribution Use 50/50 to Landfill & Recycling Cutting down trees Transform trees into paper Form paper into bags

Functional Unit • The functional unit is a measure of the function of the studied system • Provides a reference to which the inputs and outputs can be related • Enables comparison of two essentially different systems • Examples • The functional unit for a paint system may be defined as the unit surface protected for 10 years • The functional unit for a printer may be defined as the number of printed pages of an acceptable print quality • The functional unit for power generation systems may be defined as 1kWh of electricity

Functional Unit The amount of shopping bags consumed by a household to carry 70 grocery items home from the supermarket each week for 52 weeks

Step 2: Life Cycle Inventory • Highly data intensive • Detailed mass & energy balances performed over life-cycle • Advantages: measure data & define baseline metrics of life-cycle processes • Challenges: Assumptions made when data unavailable

Inputs Outputs Products Energy Raw Materials Air, Water and Solid Emissions Step 2: Life Cycle Inventory Inventory collected from multiple sources database

Toner Life-cycle Inventory Ref: A.Ahmadi,et.al, J.Clean.Prod., 2003

Impact Assessment Results • Impact assessment converts the inventory into impact categories or end points which details the human health and environmental effects.

High Density Polyethylene Inventory • Peer reviewed datasets imbedded in software • Data has been collected by others and represents actual operations • Include: • Known inputs • Emissions to air • Emissions to water • Emissions to soil • Wastes and emissions sent to treatment • Ability to modify datasets based on your own data 2. As a group, choose one of the four bags and list the processes that are included in the inventory

Life Cycle Inventory

Step 3: Impact Assessment • Converts the inventory into impact categories or mid/end points which explain the environmental effect • Impact categories may include: carcinogens, respiratory organics and inorganics, climate change, radiation, ozone layer, ecotoxicity, acidification/eutrophication, land use, minerals, fossil fuels • Can apply weights to impact categories

Impact Assessment Human Health Ecosystem Quality Mineral & Fossil Resources Fate analysis Exposure & effect analysis Damage analysis Normalization & weighting

Total Normalized Impact

Normalized Environmental Impact

Step 4: Report Results • Life cycle interpretation: findings of the inventory analysis or impact assessment are evaluated in relation to the goal and scope of the study to reach conclusions and recommendations • Identify significant issues • Evaluate results for completeness, consistency, and sensitivity of the data • Draw conclusions & make recommendations consistent with the goal & scope of the study

Interpreting Results • Which bag has the lowest environmental impact? Which bag has the highest? • Let’s consider cost of the bags. • As the store owner, does the cost information change which type of bag you would promote? How? • As a shopper, does the cost information change which type of bag you would use? How?

Anahita Williamson, PhD Director Email: anahita.williamson@rit.edu Phone: 585-475-4561 Kate Winnebeck, LCACPSr. Environmental Health & Safety Specialist Email: kate.winnebeck@rit.eduPhone: 585-475-5390 New York State Pollution Prevention Institute http://www.nysp2i.rit.edu

Life Cycle Assessment