The value of recycling to society and its internalization into LCA methodology

Birat, Jean‐Pierre; Prum, N.; Yonezawa, Katsuei; Aboussouan, L.

doi:10.1051/metal:2006155

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Many solutions to the allocation problems have been suggested by different researchers (Boguski et al 1994;Dubreuil 2007;Rydberg 1995;Klöpffer 1996;Ekvall and Tillman 1997;Kim et al 1997;Newell and Field 1998;Azpagic and Clift 1999;Ekvall 2000;Birat et al 2005). The choice of solution can have a decisive impact on the results of the LCI (Furuholt 1995;Rydberg 1995;Høgaas and Ohlsson 1998).…”

Section: Abiotic Resource Depletionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Life cycle assessment in the minerals and metals sector: a critical review of selected issues and challenges

Yellishetty

Ranjith

Tharumarajah

et al. 2009

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Background, aim and scope The mining sector provides materials that are essential elements in a wide range of goods and services, which create value by meeting human needs. Mining and processing activities are an integral part of most complex material cycles so that the application of life cycle assessment (LCA) to minerals and metals has therefore gained prominence. In the past decade, increased use of LCA in the mineral and metal sector has advanced the scientific knowledge through the development of scientifically valid life cycle inventory databases. Though scientifically valid, LCA still needs to depend on several technical assumptions. In particular, measuring the environmental burden issues related to abiotic resource depletion, land use impacts and open-loop recycling within the LCA are widely debated issues. Also, incorporating spatial and temporal sensitivities in LCA, to make it a consistent scientific tool, is yet to be resolved. This article discusses existing LCA methods and proposed models on different issues in relation to minerals and metals sector. Main features A critical review was conducted of existing LCA methods in the minerals and metals sector in relation to allocation issues related to indicators of land use impacts, abiotic resource depletion, allocation in open-loop recycling and the system expansions and accounting of spatial and temporal dimension in LCA practice. Results Evolving a holistic view about these contentious issues will be presented with view for future LCA research in the minerals and metals industry. This extensive literature search uncovers many of the issues that require immediate attention from the LCA scientific community. Discussion The methodological drawbacks, mainly problems with inconsistencies in LCA results for the same situation under different assumptions and issues related to data quality, are considered to be the shortcomings of current LCA. In the minerals and metals sector, it is important to increase the objectivity of LCA by way of fixing those uncertainties, for example, in the LCA of the minerals and metals sector, whether the land use has to be considered in detail or at a coarse level. In regard to abiotic resource characterisation, the weighting and time scales to be considered become a very critical issue of judgement. And, in the case of open-loop recycling, which model will best satisfy all the stake holders? How the temporal and spatial dimensions should be incorporated into LCA is one of the biggest challenges ahead of all those who are concerned. Addressing these issues shall enable LCA to be used as a policy tool in environmental decision-making. There has been enormous debate with respect to on land use impacts, abiotic resource depletion, open-loop recycling and spatial and temporal dimensions, and these debates remain unresolved. Discussions aimed at bringing consenInt J Life Cycle Assess (

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Section: Abiotic Resource Depletionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Life cycle assessment in the minerals and metals sector: a critical review of selected issues and challenges

Yellishetty

Ranjith

Tharumarajah

et al. 2009

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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“…Also, once a product goes into anthropogenic engine cycles, the residence time needs to be considered (e.g. for steel products the weighted average life time is 15e17 years (Birat et al, 2005 andMatsuno et al, 2007)). It should be noted that the majority of steel production is still derived from new iron ore, with recycling providing about 30% of new steel production.…”

Section: Declining Ore Gradesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the real challenge with recycling is that there is not enough recycled metals available to satisfy the demand and hence has several limitations (Birat et al, 2005). Also, once a product goes into anthropogenic engine cycles, the residence time needs to be considered (e.g.…”

Section: Declining Ore Gradesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The steel industry, abiotic resource depletion and life cycle assessment: a real or perceived issue?

Yellishetty

Mudd

Ranjith

2011

Journal of Cleaner Production

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“…Another point is not to discriminate between (mainly material) sectors as a consequence of methodological choices. It is mainly the metal sector that has expressed its concern that plastics are favored in many recycling allocation procedures, neglecting the fact that metals can be recycled endlessly, as is common practice, whereas most other materials can, in the best case, displace virgin materials or energy only once (Birat and Yonezawa 2006).…”

Section: Goal and Scopementioning

confidence: 99%

Bottom‐Up Life‐Cycle:Assessment of Product Consumption in Belgium

Jansen

Thollier

2006

J of Industrial Ecology

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Summary The present study shows the results and methodology applied to the study of the identification of priority product categories for Belgian product and environmental policy. The main goal of the study was to gather insight into the consumption of products in Belgium and their related life‐cycle environmental impacts. The conclusions of this project on the product categories with major environmental contributions can be used to start up working groups involving stakeholders and initiate detailed product studies on the impact reduction potential that could be achieved by means of implementing product policy measures. Several ways of assessing product category environmental impacts and the effects of policy measures have been developed; ‘bottom‐up’ or ‘market‐life‐cycle assessment’ is one of these, and we tried this approach for the situation in Belgium. Simplified life‐cycle assessment (LCA) studies were conducted for representative average products within each function‐based product category and the results were multiplied with market statistics. Using this approach, we found that building construction, building occupancy, and personal transport are among the major categories for Belgium. The major drawbacks of this approach are the system‐level limitations and the existence of a broad spectrum of nonharmonized methods and datasets from which a sound preliminary selection had to be made. Consequently, the retrieval and selection of data was very time consuming and due to this we had to accept some major limitations in the study design. Nevertheless, the study has contributed to the development of a methodology for market‐LCA and elements that can be picked up in currently ongoing and future work. The study concludes that to improve the feasibility and acceptance of this type of study there is a need for the development of a harmonized methodology on market‐LCA, policy‐relevant impact indicators as well as a harmonized and stakeholder‐agreed‐upon LCA databases.

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The value of recycling to society and its internalization into LCA methodology

Cited by 14 publications

References 1 publication

Life cycle assessment in the minerals and metals sector: a critical review of selected issues and challenges

Life cycle assessment in the minerals and metals sector: a critical review of selected issues and challenges

The steel industry, abiotic resource depletion and life cycle assessment: a real or perceived issue?

Bottom‐Up Life‐Cycle:Assessment of Product Consumption in Belgium

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