Background, aim and scope Established in 1992, the European Union Ecolabel, that is briefly called "the Flower" because of the mark, is a voluntary ecological product award issued by the 1980/2000 Regulation (EC 2000). Adopting the ISO classification, the EU Ecolabel belongs to the "Type I environmental labelling" (ISO 14024:1999). The possibility to include GreenHouse Gases (GHG) emissions (as of CO 2 equivalents) among the EU Ecolabel criteria is a news that is justified to the consideration that, in the last 30 years, their management and limitation assumed a relevant and strategic importance for greenhouse effect control. This paper introduces results of a project for the European Commission that aimed at developing and checking a carbon footprint calculator procedure suitable for the inclusion of the GHG emission issue in the EU Ecolabel criteria. The output tool is primarily aimed at the policy maker, i.e. the European Commission, the European Union Ecolabel Board and the Ad Hoc Working Group (AHWG, created to develop a transparent and wide discussion with reference stakeholders, see Fig. 2 for more details), but, in this step, not directly to the applicant yet. Materials and methods The project structure followed four main tasks: (1) a preliminary desk top research, (2) the toolkit development, (3) the organisation of workshops and (4) diffusion and dissemination activities. A number of dissemination activities has been carried out, such as participation in key events in order to present the project and preliminary results, consultations with key stakeholders to get their opinions and input to the project work, issuing newsletters, setting up an ad hoc website with on-line consultation services and the organisation of a Europeanwide workshop. Results, discussion and conclusions The main outcomes of the project can be summarised in the availability of a simple, flexible Excel-based preliminary tool, which gives the possibility of a multilevel interpretation of the results for the different environmental parameters used, and in the definition of rules in order to provide the most suitable and scientifically correct approach that should be considered in general for the inclusion of carbon footprint criteria in the EU Ecolabel. The output tool has the unique scope to provide a basis for the AHWG in case the decision to include carbon footprint during the product group (PG) development criteria process is taken; the CO 2 figures that are provided in the database have the intention to support the execution of the five examples that are presented and included in the Excel file; it is a precise responsibility of the AHWG to verify/update/implement the data for the carbon footprint calculation of any PG under study. The dissemination activities have brought to some important decisions related to the possible use of the carbon footprint approach concerning the 'EU Flower' marketing and communication strategies.

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Recently, a leading manufacturer of veterinary medicines applied the LCA approach to the production and use of an immunological product for male pigs for the reduction of boar taint. The LCA study involved the facilities where the immunological product is manufactured, a sample at global level of farms where it is used and where the standard method of physical castration for boar taint reduction is adopted to define a benchmark and, finally, a sample of abbattoirs where the final product (pork) is produced for human consumption. The analysis was carried out for two doses of immunological product that is necessary to reduce boar taint in the male pig and, additionally, for the unit mass of pig (so called "live-weight), pig carcass and boneless/fatless pork meat (so called "lean meat"). The saving of carbon footprint respect to the physically castrated pig system is 3.7% in terms of kg live-weight. All the other life-cycle impact indicators show a reduction relative to the benchmark system (physical castration) as well. Scope of this paper is to present the results of this LCA study; complete results are also reported in the publicly available Environmental Product Declaration ( http://www.environdec.com )

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Abstract-The resource recovery and environmental impact issues of printed circuit board recycling by secondary copper smelters are discussed. Guidelines concerning material selection for circuit board manufacture and concerning the recycling processes are given to enhance recovery efficiency and to lower the impacts on the external environment from recycling.