Boosting Life Cycle Assessment in Small and Medium Enterprises

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No. 265096

Smart Textiles:LCA to go E-Learning course

03.02.2014Authors: Antonio Dobon, Karsten Schischke, Jan Schneider, Jude Sherry

Editors: Florian Krautzer, Rainer Pamminger, Wolfgang Wimmer

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Lower your impact on the environment, heighten the impact of your businessImproving the environmental performance across your product’s life cycle can pave the way to a successful business. Using LCA to go can provide you with the information you need to inform better decision making within your business. Lower your impact on the environment and reap the benefits:

1. Cost reductions Cut down on wastage during manufacturing and save costs by maximising efficiency

2. Secure supply chain Identify supply risks of rare raw materials and reduce the use of rare raw materials in your products

3. Comply with legislation Manage your environmental legal responsibilities and avoid costly changes to comply with new regulations

4. Increase sales and diversify Reach new audiences in a fast-expanding conscious market and gain competitor advantage

5. Achieve brand loyalty Build trust and relationships with your customers with a brand that cares

Introduction

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What is LCA to go?

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since the start of the project in 2011. They have defined the most relevant boundaries, data and impact categories across seven sectors: photovoltaics, industrial machines, sensors, electronics, printed circuit boards, smart textiles and bio-based plastics. This pre-identification greatly reduces the complexity involved in undertaking a Life Cycle Based Environmental Assessment.LCA to go will enable:• planners, installers or designers of photovoltaic systems to assess and

communicate the environmental benefits of their systems• manufacturingrs of plastic products to assess the environmental and financial

performance of bio-based plastics in comparison to conventional petroleum based plastics

• designers and producers of smart textiles to assess the environmental performance of their products

• designers, assemblers or producers of computer like devices to assess and communicate the environmental benefits of reliable and long-lasting products

• machine tool manufacturings to identify potential environmental improvement options

• industrial sensor providers to quantify the environmental and financial benefits of installing a sensor system

• designers and producers of printed circuit boards (PCBs) to assess and improve the environmental performance of PCBs

Introduction

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What is a Product’s Life Cycle?

Every product interacts with the natural environment across its full life cycle, which includes material extraction, manufacturing, distribution, use and end of life. Energy, water and materials are taken from the natural environment while air and water pollutants and solid waste is emitted back into the environment. The most significant extractions from and emissions into the environment are measured and analysed through a life cycle based assessment to determine a products environmental performance.Understanding your product’s life cycle environmental performance can enable you to identify and priorities environmental improvements opportunities.

E-learning course on environmental assessment of Smart Textiles with the LCA to go online tool

Step by step e-learning: Smart Textiles home1. Define the scope2. Collect data3. Model the Life Cycle4. Enter data5. Review the result6. Interpret the result & derive

improvements

Introduction

Definitions

1. Definition of the product & scope

Substeps:a. Define the goal of the studyb. Define the functional unitc. Define the reference flowd. Define the product system and the unit processese. Draw a process treef. Define the system boundaries of all 5 life cycle

stages g. Define other requirements

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Step 1

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1.a. Define the goal of the study

i. Why do I need to define a goal for my study?Defining a goal helps you identify the objectives, applications and target audience of your study and will allow you to easily keep track of these very important factors throughout the study.

ii. How can I define a goal & what should be included in my goal definition?A goal definition should have three parts. It should identify:•the reason for undertaking the study (Why?);•the target audience (Who?);•the potential areas of application for the study (What?)

iii. Can the goal be modified during the study?The goal should not be modified during the study. If changes occur during the study, a new goal should be defined and a new study (which can take the current study as a basis) should be made.An example would be, if you conduct a study for the engineering department and the marketing department would like to use the study for communication purposes. In this case you should formulate a new goal, if possible, use the existing study as a basis, to carry out a more detailed study, focusing on the newly defined goal and the different target audience.

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1.b. Define a Functional UnitWhat is a Functional unit?

• The functional unit is the amount of product/material and energy required to accomplish a certain function.

• Example for packaging: Delivery of 1000 l of orange juice to the supermarket with 1L beverage carton, 1.5L HDPE bottle, and 0,75L glass bottle. The Functional unit here would be 1000 l of orange juice.

• Example for energy consuming product: Provide 7500 h of internet service with a modem type A, modem type B and modem type C

• Example for machinery: convert 1000 kg of pellets by extrusion machine A and extrusion machine B

Why do I need to define a Functional unit and what is it used for?• The functional unit is used as a basis for comparisons between products,

materials and equipment. This will ensure that all studied systems are fully comparable.

How can I define a functional unit?• The easiest way for define a functional unit is to identify clearly the function/s

provided by the product to be analysed and then assess if the products to be analysed can either accomplish the same function or not.

Paint

Functional unit: 1m²Main function:

Having painted a wall

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1.c. Define a Reference FlowWhat is a Reference flow?

• A reference flow is the basis for calculation required to accomplish a certain function provided by a product service.

• Paint example: amount of paint required to having painted 1 m2 of wall.Why do I need to define a Reference flow and what is used for?

• This is essential in every life cycle assessment, since it is used as a basis for comparisons.

• LCA users ensure with their use that systems under analysis are fully comparableHow can I define a Reference flow?

• Let’s see with an example: if the function is to having painted 1 m² of wall with water-based paint with a yield of 5 m²/L vs. a solvent-based paint with a yield of 2.5 m²/L, therefore different amount of paint will be used to paint the same wall surface. This is called reference flow and it is an essential part for comparison

Amount of water-based paint required for the functional unit

Amount of solvent-based paint required for the functional unit

1 m2

Functional unit 1 m2/(5m2/L) = 0,2 L

1 m2/(2.5m2/L) = 0,4 L

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1.d.i Define a Product System and the Unit ProcessesWhat is a product system?A product systems is the set of unitary processes necessary to perform the function specified in the functional unit. All inflows and outflows shall be defined. In practice, this is the whole life cycle diagram. See an example for a PLA-based carrier bag below.What is a unit process?A unit process is the minimum element for which life cycle data on inputs and outputs is availableWhat information do I need to define the product system and the unit processes?You will just need a clear idea on the main inflows and outflows to a certain product system

Corn growing and

harvesting (materials)

PLA pellet processing

Film extrusion PLA film

Printing and die-

cut

Transport and

deliveryUse

End of life

Input of raw materialsInput of water

Input of energy

Output of emissions to soil, water or air, solid waste, etc.

Outflows between unitary processes

Unit process

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1.e.i Draw a process tree

Why do I need to draw a process tree for my product system and how can I use it?Visualizing the single processes and their relation may help you understand what exactly you have to consider when collecting data for your life cycle assessment. Furthermore the development of the process tree usually helps to “not forget” parts of the product system and enables you to structure the following steps such as data collection and life cycle modeling.

Where does a product life start, where does it end?Again – this depends on the product that you’re about to evaluate. But in general, the “start” is where the raw materials or the energy needed for the manufacturing of your product come from. This is important at it also shows the “coverage” of decisions that you make during the design of the product. The end of life of your product usually falls together with its disposal and / or recycling. That does not automatically mean that you have the possibility to influence what exactly happens at this stage.

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1.e.ii Draw a process tree

What is a process tree?A process tree is a special flowchart. In this flowchart, all relevant material flows, energy flows, emissions and other streams are depicted. If possible, they are assigned to a special process or step within the life cycle stages of the product.The process tree should represent all life cycle stages needed to properly model the product. An example is used in Step 1.d. and another is shown on the right – please be aware that there is no “defined” structure as the extent and quantity of single processes depends on the modeled product.

The process tree should refer to a known quantity of product – if possible, to the functional unit.

- 1.5 kg copper- 13 kWh electricity- 15 l tap water- 0.3 m³ argon

- 4 MJ heat- 30 g copper scrap- 15 l wastewater

Process 1, e.g. casing

- 0.7 kg LDPE- 3 MJ process heat- 2 l distilled water- 2.5 g additives

- 2 l wastewater- 0.05 kg LDPE

Process 2, e.g. plastic parts

molding

- 0.2 m³ argon- 0.7 kWh electricity- 3 l tap water

- 2 MJ heat- 3 l wastewater

Process 3, e.g.

assembling

- …Process 4, …

- …

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Why is it important to define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?You should define clearly which are the boundaries of your product system. This should be done for all 5 life cycle stages, namely Materials, Manufacturing, Distribution, Use and End of life. Let‘s see some examples:

• Should the packaging materials be included? Yes, if relevant per unit of product (usually for big products or when a reduced amount of products are delivered).

• Should the impact to produce and maintain the equipment be included? Yes, if the production is small and repair/maintenance operations are often required.

How can I define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages?The easiest way for doing that is to create a table to register which aspects have been either considered or not. This will allow you to track the processes included in your system and easily move to your life cycle diagram. An example is shown on the following slide:

1.f.i Define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stages

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1.f.ii Define the system boundary for all 5 life cycle stagesMaterials Manufacturing Distribution Use End of life

Following the logic of the Process tree, please include all relevant raw materials included in the product. Please take into account that even small quantities of some raw materials (e.g. precious metals, rare earths, etc.) can have a large effect on the environment.

Most likely, this stage may be under your direct control and it will be easy to obtain data. Depending on the product, the Manufacturing can have a significant impact. Make sure to include all relevant energy and raw material flows in this stage, including the manufacturing waste, as it may be relevant for the products Life Cycle.

Depending on the product and the packaging needed, the Distribution stage can have an impact. Make sure to include the shipment method as well as the packaging. Step 3. b. shows an example on what to do with multiple shipping destinations.

Use your process tree to determine where to set your boundary in this stage. As an example, for a car, the use stage is very important and the boundary should not only include fuel consumption but also maintenance needs such as tires, spare parts, oil, etc. Looking for example at office furniture, the use stage and the maintenance therein becomes negligible.

Depending on your product, the contained raw materials, the need for disassembly or the need for a long transport before disposal, may all be factors that should be included in the End of life Stage.

For some products, Product Category Rules (PCR) exist, defining the exact system boundary to be applied. This enables transparency and comparability between different environmental assessments, based on the same PCR. Check whether your product is included at: http://www.environdec.com/en/Product-Category-Rules/

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What other requirements are there for the system boundary?Appart from defining you product system and drawing your process tree it is also important to define your Temporal, Geographical and Technological requirements. This means that you should define first, how old the data that you intend to use shall be, which geographical boundaries you intend to set, especially for the manufacturing site and place of use for your product and finally whether you want to investigate one specific technology or do an assessment for a representative family of products.

Why do I need to define other requirements?Defining these additional requirements helps you set a perimeter for your study area and validates your results, helping you reach your study goal and enabling you to communicate the results more clearly.

1.g. Define other requirements for the system boundary

2. Collect data

Substeps:a. Identify necessary datab. Define the depth and quality of data

neededc. Identify & keep track of data sourced. Identify and track the data quality

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Step 2

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2.a.i Identify necessary data

What data needs to be collected and how can this be done?Data will be needed throughout all life cycle stages to model the product life cycle properly. Some data needs to be compiled by yourself, which defines your product or system, but your data will be complemented by some background data on e.g. electricity generation or upstream raw materials production. If required for your sector, you might need to collect data as follows:•For the Materials stage, identify the materials used; data might come from the specification or experts•For the Manufacturing stage, collect data on•Electricity consumption for manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final product. This can be done by:•measuring the energy consumption directly at the production line•deviding the electricity consumption of the entire production line through the number of units produced

•Waste generated in the manufacturing of parts and assembly of the final product.•For the Distribution stage, collect data on shipping distances as well as packaging materials used•For the Use stage, estimate lifetime and use patterns, determine the country / region where the product or system is used•For the End of life stage, collect data on current disposal and recycling practice and estimate, which end of life route might be taken by your product.

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2.a.ii. Identify necessary data:Materials and ManufacturingWhat is a decision rule for mass inclusion? Why do I need it? How can be defined?A decision rule is a very easy rule aimed at exclude certain materials/ manufacturing processes for which the contribution to the global environmental impact is assumed as negligible. Let‘s see an example for an internet mobile modem based on the bill of materialsComponent Weight

(g)%wt

ABS shell 75 47,0%

PCB 50 31,3%

Display 23 14,4%

0,5 W Resistors (x 12) 8 5,0%

Chip A 2 1,3%

Capacitor (x 5) 1 0,6%

Chip C 0,5 0,3%

Cristal oscillator 0,02 0,0%

Total 159,52 100 %

Decision rule: Exclude all materials, contributing less than 1 % of the total weight of the final product.These components can be excluded as they do not represent more than 1% of total materials to the product system, reducing substantially the efforts for data collection!!! Be careful not to exclude small amounts of high impact materials such as rare earth metals.

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2.a.iii Identify necessary data:Distribution, Use, End of life: Multiple clientsI have a number of different clients, how do I account for this and what data do I need? Clients can be in a range of different locations, using and disposing of the product in different ways.To deal with these differences, LCAs use scenarios as shown in Step 3.The data you require will depend on the scenario you are investigating. As an example, if you know where you ship a certain product by market share, then you may develop a table as shown below:

You can then develop one scenario as an average for your product, ie. assuming that you are theoretically selling one product unit 50% to Poland, 40% to France and 10% to Sweden. Alternatively you can specific scenarios for specific clients. The required information remains the same.Often, if you cannot find specific information such as the exact transport distance, start with a conservative estimate and identify whether it is a relevant part of the LCA before spending too much time on getting very detailed and accurate figures.

Country (Clients)Market share

[%]

Distribution(all by truck)

[km]

Use(Use profiles may vary

depending on the client)[kWh / Year]

End of life(may vary depending

on client)

Poland 50% 1000 7,000 IncinerationFrance 40% 500 9,000 LandfillSweden 10% 2000 4,000 Recycling

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2.b.i Define the depth and quality of data neededTo what level of detail and to what accuracy should the data be collected?The required level of detail depends on the importance of a certain dataset: If the overall result is known to depend largely on one entry, the data should meet a high level of accuracy. For example, this is extremely important when certain entered values are multiplied by a very large factor. In these cases the accuracy of entered value has to be very high whereas for less important data it is not required to invest large amounts of time to achieve a high level of detail. Frequently only 10-15 data entries determine 80% or more of the result, so efforts should be made to get these 10-15 data entries right.Some examples:• As electricity in use, is frequently highly relevant, it is important to enter the correct

location and the corresponding electricity grid mix. If a product is used over long periods of time over its lifetime, this becomes even more relevant.

• Precious metals are mined and processed with high environmental impacts and occassionaly dominate the whole assessment. Getting the amount of precious metals right, even if it is only milligrams, is of high importance in these cases.

• The amount of washing detergent needed in a single cycle becomes very important if the product is designed to carry out thousands of washing cycles over its lifetime.

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2.b.ii Define the depth and quality of data neededCan I first gather rough data to gain an understanding of the product‘s environmental impact and add more detailed data later?Yes, get a first impression of the ecoprofile of your product before deciding which data should be improved. If you are not sure at the outset of the analysis, which environmental hot spots to expect, go through the assessment with some default data or worst case assessments. Check the results. Refine data entries. Get a feeling for most sensitive data entries. Refine the assessment step by step. Some typical environmental profiles:

A TV set consumes much more energy in use than in production. Modelling the use stage is most important

A mobile phone is optimised for energy efficiency and battery lifetime, but constitutes of a high share of electronics parts. Modelling of the electronics components is important.

Manufacturing

Materials End of life

A sensor system, which monitors industrial processes might reduce the power consumption of a process line, which by far outweighs its own environmental footprint. Modelling the secondary effects properly is key.

Materials Manufacturing

End of life

Manufacturing

Materials End of life

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2.c.i Identify & keep track of data source

Where can I find the data I am looking for?Good data sources are:• Product specifications• Supplier data, although environmental data is rarely covered by any supply chain

data management• Bill of materials, which however frequently lacks relevant environmental data• Material Safety Data Sheets• Complementary life cycle data in case the tool you are using does not feature the

background datasets you are looking for; free public available data sources include:• ProBas (German): Input-output data for a couple of materials and

processes, compiled by German Umweltbundesamt as an „LCA library“www.probas.umweltbundesamt.de

• CPM: Life Cycle Inventory data from projects at Chalmers Universityhttp://cpmdatabase.cpm.chalmers.se/

• Databases hosted andupdated by industry associations:• Plastics Europe: http://

www.plasticseurope.org/plasticssustainability/eco-profiles.aspx• Worldsteel: http://

www.worldsteel.org/publications/position-papers/lca.html

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2.c.ii Identify & keep track of data source

How to deal with data gaps?Be prepared to fill data gaps by means of estimates and assumptions. Engineers, designers, procurement staff and other technical experts in your company will be able to provide you with good estimates to fill data gaps. Note any datagaps and try to revisit them if they turn out to be relevant in the results.

Even large enterprises do not have readily available data on environmental issues throughout the whole product life cycle.

Even environmental data from tier 1 suppliers is rarely available and suppliers are not prepared to provide any such data consistently. There is no standard for suppliers how to calculate and report life cycle data.

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2.c.iii Identify & keep track of data source

How to inquire for supplier data?

A real life example….e-mail product manager to his supplier contact:

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2.c.iv Identify & keep track of data source

How to inquire for supplier data?

A real life example….

Reply 4 months later:

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2.c.v Identify & keep track of data source

How to inquire for supplier data?

A real life example….What is the problem:• Delayed reply• As the inquiry was not very precise it is not clear at all, which methodological

assumptions where made by the supplier (which processes are included, are upstream processes included and how are they accounted?)

• Ranges stated: Which value to calculate with? Recommended approach is “worst case”, but check sensitivity whether result changes significantly with average / best case values, then further clarification would be worthwhile

• Values are way too high for the production of semiconductors; further communication unveiled, that carbon footprint data includes power consumption in use, not only manufacturing

Recommendations:Communicate closely with your supplier. Make clear your requirements and expectations. Provide clear guidance.Given the intensive communication required until you might get hold of robust data don’t target at a full supplier coverage with your inquiries. Ask only for the most important parts, components and materials.

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2.c.vi Identify & keep track of data source

What is state of the art in data mining?As even large enterprises typically cannot directly link their Bill-of-materials with generic LCA databases reverse engineering of products is still state of the art to get hold of component weights and for identifying raw materials.

This process is time consuming and requires some guessing of raw materials. Here again, it is important not to get lost in too much detail, but to focus on the really important parts and components.

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2.c.vii Identify & keep track of data source

Which priorities to set?Example settop box (digital television receiver for pay-TV)

Hard disk drive as a major sub-assembly: Supplier might have data readily for the whole assembly

Major printed circuit boards are highly relevant for the life cycle impacts of most electronics products

…particularly, if they feature gold finishes / contacts

Don‘t spend much time on the rest for a first screening

Bulk metal / plastics parts might be relevant due to their sheer amount of raw material

Micro controllers and memory are manufacturingd with a large environmental footprint

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2.c.viii Identify & keep track of data source

Which priorities to set?Figure out for your product, which parts and components can be omitted to ease your work:• Screen for likely hot spots• Trust your technical

understanding, how things are made and whether it is likely that raw material or energy intensive processes are used

• Frequently cost intensive components come with a larger environmental footprint.

• Don’t exclude components, which contain most likely precious metals

• Still unsure? Check out, whether there are LCAs for your kind of product readily available

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2.d.i Identify and track the data quality

What is meant by data quality?For an engineer it might be hard to understand, that environmental life cycle data is subject to numerous assumptions, approximations, partly guess-work and thus uncertainty.Data quality essentially is an indicator of how good a given dataset and the related results of modelling represent the „real“ life cycle of a product or system.As long as data comes directly from your product and production line, data quality will be high, but frequently you will have to source data for processes and life cycle stages, which are not under your direct control. Then data quality comes into play as a crucial issue.

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2.d.ii Identify and track the data quality

How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator?Typically data quality has five dimensions:(1) Reliability

Is the data based on measurements, verified by anybody or only estimated? (2) Completeness

How large is the sample the data is based on? Is it representative?(3) Correlations in Time

How old is the data?(4) Correlations in Geography

Does the data stem from the region, where my components are produced or does the data refer to some other locations?

(5) Correlations in TechnologyAre components and raw materials processed with the same technology as for the system to be assessed?

Keep in mind: The Data Quality Indicator in the „LCA to go“ tool is meant to assess the quality of YOUR data entries, not of the background data in the tool. The user has to judge, whether a background dataset is appropriate for the intended use! Even a high quality background dataset applied to the wrong raw material yields a wrong result.

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2.d.iii Identify and track the data quality

How is data quality defined and what is the Data Quality Indicator? continued…In a simplified version, the assessment of the data quality is aggregated in one of three possible Data Quality Indicator scores:

ReliabilityCompleteness Correlations in TimeCorrelations in

Geography Correlations in

Technology

Robust

Indicative

Illustrative

high

Data qualit

y

low

DQIscor

e

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2.d.iv Identify and track the data quality

Why is data quality and keeping track of data quality important?Assessing the data quality helps you• to get an impression, how reliable your overall assessment result is, and• to improve your data collection strategy to enhance the overall quality of the

assessmentExamples:

Data quality

         

Robust        

Indicative

       

Illustrative

   

Data quality

         

Robust        

Indicative

       

Illustrative

   

Mat

eria

ls

Man

ufac

turin

g

Distrib

utio

nUse

End-

of-L

ife

Environmental impact

Mat

eria

ls

Man

ufac

turin

g

Distrib

utio

nUse

End-

of-L

ife

Environmental impact

ok, life cycle stages with highest impact feature high data quality

Indicative data for Distribution is „nice to have“ but „indicative“ level for Manufacturing is critical and should be improved!

3. Model the Life Cycle

Substeps:a. Review available data and bring it into a useful

format, making assumptions where necessaryb. Develop Scenarios for the Distribution stagec. Develop Scenarios for the Use staged. Develop Scenarios for the End of life stage

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Step 3

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3.a.i Review available data and bring it into a useful format, making assumptions where necessary

How can I best review the data and identify data gaps? Use a table to track data gaps is the easiest solution for doing that. Put there which data is necessary and optional as well as the assumptions you made.

Life cycle stage

raw material/substance

Amount

Unit Datagap

Data needed?

Assumption Source

Materials

Copper 58 g No Yes My company

ABS resin 220 g No Yes Literature

Glass fibre 125 g No Yes Literature

Materials - preprocesses

Injection moulding of ABS

195 g Yes Yes I do not know the precise figures to estimate the processing of the ABS Shell, so I will assume a general injection moulding process to estimate the impacts related to the processing of ABS resin to produce the internet modem shell

Literature

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3.a.ii Review available data and bring it into a useful format, making assumptions where necessaryCan I make assumptions to fill these data gaps with estimates? Yes, of course. Assumptions are needed to reduce data collection efforts and must be clearly stated for a proper interpreation of results.How can I relate the data to my functional unit?Using the reference flow. Please see Step 1.c

I cannot find suitable LCA data regarding the production of an ABS shell for an internet modem!!!!!!

Assumption: consider the total weight of the ABS shell and calculate the processing by assuming a general injection moulding process

What’s better?

A final result which does not consider the impacts of producing the ABS shell

Achieving a more complete total result which includes a conservative estimate for the process

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3.b.i Develop Scenarios for Distribution

What is a scenario in the context of an environmental assessment with the LCA to go tool?A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in distribution, use and/or disposal.

Why are scenarios useful and when are they used? Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Each scenario essentially models what happens when a product may be distributed to a range of different destinations and/or used in different intensities (e.g.: distribute your PCB to Austria or Mexico, used intensively or sparingly, landfill of carrier bag vs. incineration, etc.).

How many scenarios should I define for the distribution stage?This depends greatly on the relative importance of the distribution stage compared to other stages in the life cycle of your product as well as the difference between the individual scenarios. We recommend that you start with a worst case scenario to identify the relative importance of the distribution stage. If it is relevant in the product life cycle, it is best to develop several scenarios based on the market share or actual distribution data. The LCA goal may also play a role, maybe you would like to develop a scenario for a specific customer or market.

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3.b.ii Develop Scenarios for Distribution

How can I define a scenario for the distribution stage?Collect as much information as feasible on the weight of the product, the location that your product is shipped to, the method of transport and the packaging used. Combine the information with assumptions and estimates to build a ‚complete‘ picture for the distribution of your product.

<insert sector> Example

National (Spain)

Manufacturing plant in Spain

Europe (Sweden)

Overseas (Brazil)

500 km

1270 km 780 km

6900 km 1120 km

+

+

Market share 40%

Market share 5%

Market share 55%

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3.d. Develop Scenarios for the End of life stage

How can I define a scenario for the End of life stage?Try to define the most common scenarios for end of life as function of the geography as well as the user preferences and build the scenarios according to your specified goal for the LCA. A Scenario may consist of one path (e.g. Incineration) for the entire product or of different paths for each raw material (e.g. Copper->Recycling, PVC casing->Incineration, Steel->Landfill)

How many scenarios should I define for the End of life stage?Commonly, three scenarios are distinguished in the End of life stage: Recycling, Incineration and Landfill. As always, check the impact of the life cycle stage relative to other life cycle stages before investing a lot of time and effort on building scenarios.Please find an example for plastic packaging (2010 from Eurostat):

Country Recycling Incineration Landfill

Spain 29% 22% 49%

France 24% 37% 39%

Finland 26% 19% 65%

4. Enter data

Substeps:a. Enter data in the LCA to go online toolb. Understand why the data is needed and what

happens with the entered data

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4.a.i Enter data in the LCA to go online tool

Where can I find the tool?You can access the tool from the project website http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in . You will need to register and create an account first before entering data.

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4.a.ii Enter data in the LCA to go online tool

How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?1)Create a new product

Customized life cycle for each sector

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4.a.iii Enter data in the LCA to go online tool

How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?1)Create a new product2)Go to „Introduction“ for further sectoral guidance or directly to „Data entry“

Sectoral guidance on data entries

Model your

product life cycle

Self-assessment

of the quality of your data

entries

Calculate results; will show results only, if you

have entered a complete dataset

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4.a.iv Enter data in the LCA to go online tool

How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?1)Create a new product2)Go to „Introduction“ for further sectoral guidance or directly to „Data entry“3)„Data entry“: Make entries for yourproduct life cycle

Comprehensive data entry templates to

model the life cycle stages one by one

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4.a.v Enter data in the LCA to go online tool

How can I enter data into the LCA to go tool?1)Create a new product2)Go to „Introduction“ for further sectoral guidance or directly to „Data entry“3)„Data entry“: Make entries for yourproduct life cycle

4)Click „Next step“ to move to the nextlife cycle stage

Calculate results; will

show results only, if you

have entered a complete

dataset

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4.a.vi Enter data in the LCA to go online tool

Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?All your entered data is saved under your account, once you click

or

You will find your products listed under „My Products“ in the top right corner

online trainee

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4.a.vii Enter data in the LCA to go online tool

Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Just click on the „status“button to return to your data entries any time

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4.a.viii Enter data in the LCA to go online tool

Can I save the data and return to finish the data entry at a later time?

Click on the duplicateicon to make a copy of your product entries for calculating a variant

Can the data be seen by a third party?No.  Your data is stored on the web server of the online tool, but it is only accessible with your account details.The user password is encrypted and even the host is not able to read it. Therefore, only the user can access their own data.

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Results

4.b.i Understand why the data is needed and what happens with the entered dataWhat happens with the entered data?Your entered data is used as input parameters for a mathematical model. This model links your entered data with background datasets to calculate the results for your product.

data entry 1data entry 2data entry 3data entry 4

Internal data model

dataset 1

dataset 2

dataset 3

Internal database

Materials

Manufacturi

ng

End of life

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4.b.vi Understand why the data is needed and what happens with the entered dataWhat background datasets are used and why?The tool comes with some background datasets to ease your work: The datasets comprise environmental data related to some consumption metrics.The most typical example are the country specific emission factors for electricity:

• kg of greenhouse gas emissions of power generation in a given country, aggregated as CO2-equivalents per kWh electricity consumed by a product or process

This data stems from broadly accepted and publicly available sources, such as the International Energy Agency.

Further data sets allow to link your consumption data or design data with the anticipated environmental impacts. This is meant to help you: Instead of inquiring throughout the supply chain the “real” environmental impacts of your product, you are provided with ready-made data as a sound approximation of “your” reality.

5. Review the result

Substeps:a. Understand the first result & the available

impact categoriesb. Identify

major environmental hotspots and the robustness of the result

c. Collect and enter additional data where necessary

Sector specific course / Step 5

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Step 5

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5.a.i Understand the result

How is the result displayed?Results are displayed in the LCA to go tool in three different ways:

2) Bar charts (“Graphic Results”)

1) Data table („Detailed Results“)

3) pdf report

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5.a.ii Understand the result

What are Eco-costs, how are they defined and why are they used?

The final outcome is presented in a so-called "single indicator", which is a judgement of the environmental performance of a product in one single number. For this tool the indicator "Eco-costs”, has been chosen to express the environmental burden.

This Eco-costs single indicator is the sum of all costs that would be necessary to invest in order to prevent: • toxic emissions, called the "eco-costs of emissions"• materials depletion, called the "eco-costs of materials depletion"• energy consumption, called the "eco-costs of energy”

The Eco-costs is based on the concept of "marginal prevention costs", which are the costs required to offset the environmental burden to a sustainable level. This can be done by investments in: "end of pipe" measures aiming at preventing the release of pollutants into the environment system integrated solutions which can be implemented during the other life cycle phases, such as the (Materials-) Manufacturing phase, the Use phase or Distribution.

If you want to know more about Eco-costs, follow this link: http://www.ecocostsvalue.com

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5.b.i Identify major environmental hotspots and the robustness of the underlying dataWhat is an environmental hotspot?If you want to use the assessment for design improvements, for discussing a project with a client or to implement a sustainable business strategy, you might need to know more than just the Eco-costs. You should know, where it comes from to initiate improvements.Following again the 80:20 principle you should target at the 20% input parameters, which drive 80% of your impacts. These are your environmental hotspots.

Some examples:• For a mobile electronics product it is not the package, although recycled cardboard

is very popular, it is the electronics: Printed circuit boards and semiconductors• For a battery operated smart textile it is the overall system efficiency and the

battery size• For a sensor equipped smart textile that is applied to control space heating of

buildings don‘t bother for too long about the production of the sensor hardware, pay attention to the energy saving during the use phase.

• For a heating textile, do not worry too much about the assembly of the parts, the important hotspot is the energy used in the use phase.

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5.b.ii Identify major environmental hotspots and the robustness of the underlying dataHow to deal with environmental hotspots?When developing the tool, we had in mind already the hot spots, but check for your product, how sensitive the result is to the entered data:

• What drives your impacts? • How to minimise overall impacts?

Try to find out, what are the three most important factors and check: Have you got the power to make a change?

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5.b.iii Identify major environmental hotspots and the robustness of the underlying dataHow robust are the results?The Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) will help you to judge the robustness of your results: Are those life cycle stages with the highest relevancy those with the best data quality? If not, make a brief sensitivity analysis:Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change much?

Materials

Manufacturi

ng

End of life

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5.b.iv Identify major environmental hotspots and the robustness of the underlying dataHow robust are the results?

Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change much?

Materials

Manufacturi

ng

End of life

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5.b.v Identify major environmental hotspots and the robustness of the underlying dataHow robust are the results?

Enter for those parameters, which seem to be of high relevancy minimum and maximum estimates and check results again. Does the overall result change much?

In this example overall robustness is low, sensitivity is high, make related assumptions with due care, preferably calculate with a conservative assumption

Materials

Manufacturi

ng

End of life

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5.c. Collect and enter additional data where necessaryHaving identified environmental hotspots and the robustness of the result, how do I decide what data I need to improve?Make sure that you have the most robust data for the most important life cycle stages. If you have identified an environmental hotspot but the data is only “Indicative”, try to collect further data. If you only have “Illustrative” data for a life cycle stage that might be relevant or who’s importance depends strongly on the chosen scenario, try to collect and integrate further data. What can I do if I do not have access to more robust data?Try to expand on the existing data by asking experts within your company for their estimates. Check the feasibility of the data against published figures from other manufacturingrs.Can I follow the same step by step process when collecting and entering more detailed data?In principle, yes, though the second round of data collection should be much quicker and less intensive because you can concentrate on a few data gaps. Make sure you save the current result to see what changes the improved data has brought about and whether it would be useful to go back and ask for further data. You may use the “Duplicate” function in the tool for this.When is my study “finished”, how do I know when to stop collecting and entering data?Once you are happy that you have achieved the goal of your study. It is clear that in an iterative process, results can always be improved. Once you are confident that the results are robust enough to meet the goal of the study, stop collecting data and concentrate on interpreting and communicating your result.

6. Interpret the result & derive improvements

Substeps:a. Draw conclusions from the resultb. Derive appropriate improvement measuresc. Prepare the result for distribution /

communication

Sector specific course / Step 6

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Step 6

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6.a.i Draw conclusions from the result

What conclusions can I draw from the result?This brings us back to the initial point: What was the goal of the assessment?Now you can interpret the assessment result in the light of your goal:

• If an rough environmental assessment was your goal, you are basically done. Latest now you should think about your communication strategy with respect to green credentials of your product or service.

• If a product improvement was your goal, you can now focus on the hotspots, and check with the product designers, which ideas they have for improvement, assess technical feasibility and economics of related measures.

• If the assessment was meant to inform a sales talk, extract major findings and benefits identified, complement the environmental assessment with a cost analysis. Some sectoral tools cover such a cost calculation feature.

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6.a.ii Draw conclusions from the result

What have I learned from the process of carrying out the environmental assessment?Besides the plain calculations there is more, that you presumably have learnt from this exercise:

• Thinking about your product from a new perspective, which might even bring you to creative ideas, how to improve in your business

• Reflecting on life cycle stages you have not thought of before, getting insights on these

• Being prepared to talk about environmental aspects of your productAlso large enterprises do not only undertake LCAs for “green washing”, they draw internal lessons from the findings.

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Which basic product types exists and how can I identify the basic product type of my product?In general, five different basic product types are distinguished: (Two examples are shown)

1.Material intensive2.Manufacturing intensive3.Distribution intensive4.Use intensive5.End of life intensive

example

example

6.b.i Derive appropriate improvement measures

Materials Manufacturing Distribution Use End of Life

Life Cycle for a Use intensive product

Materials Manufacturing Distribution Use End of Life

Life Cycle for a Raw material intensive product

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6.b.ii Derive appropriate improvement measuresWhat is the general improvement strategy for each basic product type?It is important to identify the basic product type to identify the appropriate improvement strategy. Several tools exist to help you define an improvement strategy for your product. The improvement strategy focuses on the major improvement options which in turn consist of several measures, which may or may not be applicable to your product. As an example for a use intensive product, the following improvement strategy has been taken from the ECODESIGN Pilot, one such tool:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/

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6.b.iii Derive appropriate improvement measuresWhat improvement options can I derive from the result?Once the basic product type and the improvement strategy has been identified, a checklist of measures can be used to identify their contribution to the improvement of the product.Depending on the tool used, a set of measures can be identified and their implementation can be logged, to determine which further measures can be implemented, what their benefits would be or why certain measures are not feasible. As an example, this is an extract from the ECODESIGN Pilot:

Source: www.ecodesign.at/pilot/

The life cycle perspective always insures that the implementation of improvement measures does not simply shift environmental impacts from one life cycle stage to another, but that measures actually improve the environmental performance of the product as a whole.

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6.c.i Prepare the result for communication

For what purposes can I use the result provided by the LCA to go tool?You can use the results to make environmental claims, preferably stating that calculations have been made with the LCA to go tool. Then it is clear, how you calculated the environmental assessment. The LCA to go tool provides you with a pdf report of the major results. Any additional claims on e.g. absence of hazardous raw materials, information about a dedicated take-back service, or the technical specification have to be provided as a complementary piece of information.If you want to have your assessment being verified by an external to enhance credibility or just to be sure, please contact the LCA to go consortium for assistance.As LCA to go is meant to provide a swift access to life cycle thinking it does not provide an LCA result in conformity with the standards ISO 14.040 and ISO 14.044. If you want to go for a full-size LCA study you should use your experience with LCA to go as a starter, but you will have to change over to any of the professional LCA tools presumably.

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6.c.ii Prepare the result for communication

What information do I need to provide to make the result understandable to my audience?Depends on your audience! There are some companies, which make a pretty good job to explain environmental issues on a very consumer-friendly level. It is rather educating than communicating environmental credentials. Others publish summaries of LCA studies. For your inspiration, here are 4 examples what other small and large companies communicate in the smart textiles sector.

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6.c.iii Prepare the result for communication

How can I best highlight the main conclusions?So what is on your “want-to-have” list now?We shrunk the assessment down to the relevant Eco-costs, but you have to consider, what are the expectations of your target audience, internally and externally.

Target audience:

Client, information to

be used in sales talk,

plus a reference case

study for my system to

be published on the

website and as trade

fair hand-out

Information:

Carbon savings along

with cost savings,

showing a comparison

to the status-quo

Target audience:End-consumers (LOHAS)

Information:Explain a broad range of environmental issues and how our product can help to make a change,

topics:- toxicity /

emissions- global warming / energy- waste reduction

Target audience:

Public procurement

Information:

Comprehensive

environmental facts

(as much as

possible, but carbon

footprint is

minimum), verified

by third party

Definitions

• Cradle to Gate• Data Quality Indicator• Environmental aspect• Environmental hotspot(s)• Environmental impact• Environmental management system (EMS)• Environmental performance• Impact category• LCA to go• Life Cycle• Life Cycle Thinking• Life Cycle stages• Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME• Robustness• Scenario

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Definition: Cradle-to-gate

The cradle-to-gate concept is one variant of the Life Cycle Assessment. The special thing is that not all five stages are included but only the raw material extraction, production and distribution until a certain point – the “factory gate”. It does not take into account certain stages – most likely the “use” and “end of life / disposal”. It may be used to enable future users of an LCA (downstream in the supply chain) to include your assessment in theirs and adjust the “use” and “end of life” stage according to their scope.

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Definition: Data Quality Indicator

The Data Quality Indicator, short DQI, uses the origin, preciseness and reliability of the input data to define its robustness and describes it in three categories, Illustrative, Indicative or Robust. Learn more…

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Definition: Environmental aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can interact with the environment

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Definition: Environmental hotspots

The Environmental hotspots are those areas of the life cycle, 20% of the input parameters, drive 80% of your impacts.

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Definition: Environmental impact

Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organization`s environmental aspect.

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Definition: Environmental management system (EMS)

Part of an organization’s management system used to develop and implement its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects

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Definition: Environmental performance

Measurable results of an organizations management of its environmental aspects

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Definition: Impact category

Class representing environmental issues of concern to which life cycle inventory analysis results may be assigned

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Definition: LCA to go

LCA to go is an online tool that measures a product’s environmental performance based on the principles of a simplified Life Cycle Based Assessment (LCA). This simplification has been developed by LCA experts since the start of the LCA to go project in 2011.

http://tool.lca2go.eu/users/sign_in

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Definition: Life Cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material acquisition or generation from natural resources to the end of life

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Definition: Life Cycle Thinking

According to the European Platform on LCA (Life Cycle Assessment), Life Cycle Thinking (or LCT) is defined as:

„The concept of Life Cycle Thinking integrates existing consumption and production strategies towards a more coherent policy making and in industry, employing a bundle of life cycle based approaches and tools. By considering

the whole life cycle, the shifting of problems from one life cycle stage to another, from one geographic area to another and from one environmental

medium or protection target to another is avoided.”

In other words, Life Cycle Thinking means that even if you‘re only responsible for one step in the supply chain (maybe product design), all related Life cycle stages should be taken into account when it comes to environmental performance of your product. That prevents from creating new (and maybe bigger) problems by eliminating one and enables you to make sustainable decisions.

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Definition: Life cycle stages

In general, „Materials“, „Manufacturing“, „Distribution“, „Use“ and „End of life“ are defined as the five life cycle stages of a product. Keep in mind that depending on your product, it may be that not all of these are „transparent“ for you.If – for example – one produces screws or nails, the „Use“ stage will be completely in the dark. On the other hand, deciding on the used materials influences the recyclability at the “End of life” and efforts related to “Raw Materials” extraction.The life cycle built from the five stages is shown on the right.

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Materials

Manufacturing

Distribution

Use

End of life

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Definition: Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises-SME

“The category of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is made up of enterprises which employ fewer than 250 persons and which have an annual turnover not exceeding 50 million euro, and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding 43 million euro.” [EC 2005]Next figure shows an overview about the thresholds of SMEs defined by the European Commission.

Source: EC 2005

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Definition: Robustness

Robustness describes the reliability and overall applicability of the results. Robust results are results where the areas with the highest impact are supported by the highest quality data possible.

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Definition: Scenario

A scenario represents a possible situation applicable to the product in distribution, use and/or disposal. Scenarios are useful because they allow for the comparison of different possible situations the product may be found in and to allow for an environmental assessment, even if the exact distribution path, or use intensity or disposal method is unknown. Learn more…

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