Eco-labeling, Product Category Rules and Certification Procedures Based on ISO 14025 Requirements (6 pp)

Fet, Annik Magerholm; Skaar, Christofer

doi:10.1065/lca2006.01.237

Cited by 49 publications

(28 citation statements)

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“…The Australian and New Zealand corporate and government sectors are moving towards including environmental sustainability considerations as key elements of their procurement policies. Therefore, the availability of product ecolabel certification and/or sound environmental product declarations (EPD; Fet and Skaar 2006) is increasingly necessary to maintain commercial competitiveness while avoiding claims that may be perceived as greenwash (Soanes and Stevenson 2005). Design for environment (DfE), cleaner technologies and life cycle assessment (LCA; SETAC 1993; Guinée et al 2002;Udo de Haes et al 1999a, b;Todd and Curran 1999) tools and approaches have long been used to minimise the environmental impacts of production and assist in creating environmentally preferable products.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Life cycle assessment of commercial furniture: a case study of Formway LIFE chair

Gamage

Boyle

McLaren

et al. 2008

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Background, aims and scope The environmental aspects of companies and their products are becoming more significant in delivering competitive advantage. Formway Furniture, a designer and manufacturer of office furniture products, is a New Zealand-based company that is committed to sustainable development. It manufactures two models of the light, intuitive, flexible and environmental (LIFE) office chair: one with an aluminium base and one with a glass-filled nylon (GFN) base. It was decided to undertake a life cycle assessment (LCA) study of these two models in order to: (1) determine environmental hotspots in the life cycle of the two chairs (goal 1); (2) compare the life cycle impacts of the two chairs (goal 2); and (3) compare alternative potential waste-management scenarios (goal 3). The study also included sensitivity analysis with respect to recycled content of aluminium in the product. Materials and methods The LIFE chair models consist of a mix of metal and plastic components manufactured by selected Formway suppliers according to design criteria. Hence, the research methodology included determining the specific material composition of the two chair models and acquisition of manufacturing data from individual suppliers. These data were compiled and used in conjunction with pre-existing data, specifically from the ecoinvent database purchased in conjunction with the SimaPro7 LCA software, to develop the life cycle inventory of the two chair models. The life cycle stages included in the study extended from raw-material extraction through to waste management. Impact assessment was carried out using CML 2 baseline 2000, the methodology developed by Leiden University's Institute for Environmental Sciences. Results This paper presents results for global warming potential (GWP100). The study showed a significant impact contribution from the raw-material extraction/refinement stage for both chair models; aluminium extraction and refining made the greatest contribution to GWP100. The comparison of the two LIFE chair models showed that the model with the aluminium base had a higher GWP100 impact than the model with the GFN base. The wastemanagement scenario compared the GWP100 result when (1) both chair models were sent to landfill and (2) steel and aluminium components were recycled with the remainder of the chair sent to landfill. The results showed that the recycling scenario contributed to a reduced GWP100 result. Since production and processing of aluminium was found to be significant, a sensitivity analysis was carried out to determine the impact of using aluminium with different recycled contents (0%, 34% and 100%) in both wastemanagement scenarios; this showed that increased use of recycled aluminium was beneficial. The recycling at endof-life scenarios was modelled using two different endof-life allocation approaches, i.e. consequential and attributional, in order to illustrate the variation in results Int J Life Cycle Assess (2008) 13:401-411

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, a recent Norwegian project has developed Product Category Rules (PCR) for EPDs based on LCA (EPD 2005). Some public EPD declarations according to PCR, including office furniture, are publicly available (Fet and Skaar 2006;EPD 2005;NHO 2006). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life cycle assessment of commercial furniture: a case study of Formway LIFE chair

Gamage

Boyle

McLaren

et al. 2008

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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“…ISO 14025 describes the procedure necessary for preparing the declarations, how to develop consistent and comparable data sets [14], according to common rules, i.e., Product Category Rules (PCR) [15]. As defined in the GPI of the International EPD ® system [12], the PCR shall define the criteria according to assigning a product to a specific category, which parameters are set out to prepare the EPDs, the data quality requirements and the collection and calculation rules for data to be included in the EPD, as well as what kind of information suitable to convey to the primary audience of the EPD.…”

Section: Methodology For Type III Environmental Declarationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of Specific Rules for the Application of Life Cycle Assessment to Carbon Capture and Storage

2013

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Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a very innovative and promising solution for greenhouse gases (GHG) reduction, i.e., capturing carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) at its source and storing it indefinitely to avoid its release to the atmosphere. This paper investigates a set of key issues in the development of specific rules for the application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to CCS. The following LCA-based information are addressed in this work: definition of service type, definition of functional unit, definition of system boundaries, choice of allocation rules, choice of selected Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) results or other selected parameters for description of environmental performance. From a communication perspective, the specific rules defined in this study have been developed coherently with the requirements of a type III environment label scheme, the International EPD ® System, according to the ISO 14025 standard.

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“…This type of formalized product declaration relies on life cycle analyses (LCAs) according to ISO14040ff (ISO 2006a;Klöpffer 2005). ISO 14025 (ISO 2006b), published in 2006, describes how to develop consistent and comparable data sets (Grahl and Schmincke 2007;Schmincke and Grahl 2006), according to common rules [Product Category Rules (PCR); Fet and Skaar 2006]. PCRs ensure that results can be easily compared among products or services of the same category (Del Borghi et al 2007).…”

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confidence: 99%

Development of PCR for WWTP based on a case study

Borghi¹,

Gaggero²,

Gallo³

et al. 2008

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Background, aim, and scope In order to apply the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) to products or services, specific rules [Product Category Rules (PCR)] have to be issued to ensure comparability among different declarations within the same service group. The aim of the present study is to describe the reasons leading to each choice in the development of PCR applied to Collecting and Treatment Service of Municipal Wastewater and to evaluate, through life cycle analysis (LCA), their influence on the potential environmental impact of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), analysed as a case study. Specific data were collected during the year 2003 from an Italian active sludge treatment plant with separate wastewater and sludge treatment lines. Materials and methods The PCR 2005:5 (Collecting and treatment service of municipal wastewater (MWW). Product group/service type: refuse disposal, sanitation and similar activities, NACE code:90) document was prepared by the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering “G.B. Bonino” (University of Genoa, Italy). This PCR was tested on the Collection and Treatment Service of Municipal Wastewater in a wastewater treatment plant located in Savona, Italy (Consorzio per la Depurazione delle Acque di Scarico). The PCR 2005:5 document was issued in an open and participatory process between companies and organizations having good knowledge of the specific environmental aspects of the service to be included in the EPD® system. PCR, LCA, and EPD studies were developed according to the document “Requirements for an International EPD Scheme” (EU funded LIFE Env 2003 program, INTEND Project, www.intendproject.net). Results The following LCA-based information was considered in preparing the PCR: definition of service type, definition of functional unit, choice and description of system boundaries, choice of cutoff criteria, choice of allocation rules, description of quality requirements for data, choice of selected LCI results or other selected parameters for description of environmental performance to be included in the declaration, description of parameters contributing to each preset category, description of specific information to be included in the use stage of the declaration, other environmental information. Ecotoxicity characterization factors, evaluated by the model Uniform System for the Evaluation of Substances (USES-LCA), was added to the PCR as an Annex. The potential environmental impacts of the considered case study were evaluated separately for the following phases: sewer net and plant construction, sewer net and plant management, sludge management. Alternative sludge management techniques were investigated. Discussion PCR of Collecting and Treatment Service of Municipal Wastewater (MWW) was prepared in an open and participatory process between companies and organizations having in-depth knowledge of the specific environmental aspects of the service, in order to safeguard the provision and input of appropriate product-specific knowledge from relevant companies and bra...

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Eco-labeling, Product Category Rules and Certification Procedures Based on ISO 14025 Requirements (6 pp)

Cited by 49 publications

References 1 publication

Life cycle assessment of commercial furniture: a case study of Formway LIFE chair

Life cycle assessment of commercial furniture: a case study of Formway LIFE chair

Development of Specific Rules for the Application of Life Cycle Assessment to Carbon Capture and Storage

Development of PCR for WWTP based on a case study

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