Life cycle environmental evaluation of kettles: Recommendations for the development of eco-design regulations in the European Union

Abstract

Between 117 and 200 million kettles are used in the European Union (EU) every year. However, the full environmental impacts of kettles remain largely unknown. This paper presents a comprehensive life cycle assessment of conventional plastic and metallic kettles in comparison with eco-kettles. The results show that the use stage contributes 80% to the impacts. For this reason, the eco-kettle has over 30% lower environmental impacts due to a greater water efficiency and related lower energy consumption. These results have been extrapolated to the EU level to consider the implications for proposed eco-design regulations. For these purposes, the effects on the impacts of durability of kettles and improvements in their energy and water efficiency have been assessed as they have been identified as two key parameters in the proposed regulations. The results suggest that increasing the current average durability from 4.4 to seven years would reduce the impacts by less than 5%. Thus, improving durability is not a key issue for improving the environmental performance of kettles and does not justify the need for an eco-design regulation based exclusively on it. However, improvements in water and energy efficiency through eco-design can bring relevant environmental savings. Boiling the exact amount of water needed would reduce the impacts by around a third and using water temperature control by further 2%-5%. The study has also considered the effects of reducing significantly the number of kettles in use after the UK (large user of kettles) leaves the EU and reducing the excess water typically boiled by the consumer. Even under these circumstances, the environmental savings justify the development of a specific EU eco-design regulation for kettles. However, consumer engagement will be key to the implementation and achievement of the expected environmental benefits.

Microplastic release from the degradation of polypropylene feeding bottles during infant formula preparation

“…Unaccounted sources of MP release from other PP products involved in formula preparation can also contribute to MP exposure. For example, electrical kettles used to heat water for formula preparation are commonly PPbased and account for 60% 32 and 91% (data mining from Amazon UK) of the EU and UK kettle markets, respectively. Tests involving 3 kettles from different manufacturers in the UK (Supplementary Figure 1a), revealed that over 10 million PP-MPs per litre are released into the water during a single boil, which is in line with previous findings 33 .…”

Appliance electrical consumption modelling at scale using smart meter data

“…Furthermore, these models support environmental evaluation of appliances, thus enabling recommendations for the development of eco-design regulations in the EU, e.g., see [46].…”

Environmental Benefit of Eco-Industrial Development: Effective Approach of Europe to Climate Change and Mitigation

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