TY - JOUR
T1 - Influence of the impact assessment method on the conclusions of a LCA study. Application to the case of a part made with virgin and recycled HDPE
AU - Simões, Carla L.
AU - Xará, Susana M.
AU - Bernardo, C. A.
N1 - Funding Information:
The present work was partially financed by the EU LIFE-Environment Programme project Ecovia (LIFE 05 ENV/P/000366) and carried out within PIEP – Innovation in Polymer Engineering. CLS wishes to thank the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology for a personal research grant (SFRH/BD/60852/2009).
Copyright:
Copyright 2012 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2011/10
Y1 - 2011/10
N2 - Recent legislation has stressed the need to decide the best end-of-life (EoL) option for post-consumer products considering their full life-cycle and the corresponding overall environmental impacts. The life cycle assessment (LCA) technique has become a common tool to evaluate those impacts. The present study aimed to contribute to the better understanding of the application of this technique, by evaluating the influence of the selection of the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) method in its results and conclusions. A specific case study was chosen, using previous information related to an anti-glare lamellae (AGL) for highway use, made with virgin and recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE). Five distinct LCIA methods were used: Eco-indicator 99, CML 2 (2000), EPS 2000, Eco-indicator 95 and EDIP 97. Consistent results between these methods were obtained for the Climate change, Ozone layer depletion, Acidification and Eutrophication environmental indicators. Conversely, the Summer smog indicator showed large discrepancies between impact assessment methods. The work sheds light on the advantages inherent in using various LCIA methods when doing the LCA study of a specific product, thus evidencing complementary analysis perspectives.
AB - Recent legislation has stressed the need to decide the best end-of-life (EoL) option for post-consumer products considering their full life-cycle and the corresponding overall environmental impacts. The life cycle assessment (LCA) technique has become a common tool to evaluate those impacts. The present study aimed to contribute to the better understanding of the application of this technique, by evaluating the influence of the selection of the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) method in its results and conclusions. A specific case study was chosen, using previous information related to an anti-glare lamellae (AGL) for highway use, made with virgin and recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE). Five distinct LCIA methods were used: Eco-indicator 99, CML 2 (2000), EPS 2000, Eco-indicator 95 and EDIP 97. Consistent results between these methods were obtained for the Climate change, Ozone layer depletion, Acidification and Eutrophication environmental indicators. Conversely, the Summer smog indicator showed large discrepancies between impact assessment methods. The work sheds light on the advantages inherent in using various LCIA methods when doing the LCA study of a specific product, thus evidencing complementary analysis perspectives.
KW - Anti-glare device
KW - Life cycle assessment
KW - Life cycle impact assessment method
KW - Recycling
KW - Road safety device
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=80054010987&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0734242X11403799
DO - 10.1177/0734242X11403799
M3 - Article
C2 - 21558083
AN - SCOPUS:80054010987
SN - 0734-242X
VL - 29
SP - 1018
EP - 1026
JO - Waste Management and Research
JF - Waste Management and Research
IS - 10
ER -
