Life Cycle Assessment in Surfactants
Definition
A systematic set of procedures for compiling and examining the inputs and outputs of materials and energy and the associated environmental impacts directly attributable to the functioning of a product or service system throughout its life cycle.
More info: http://www.uneptie.org/pc/pc/tools/lca.htm.
To order ISO Standard: http://www.iso.ch/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER=23151
Rationale
Life cycle assessments (LCAs) consider the potential environmental and human health impacts at each point of a product's life cycle -- from the origin of its feedstocks to its production, use and end of life. It is important to consider the use of chemicals based on life cycle thinking because a change at one stage in the lifecycle of a product may have beneficial or detrimental impacts at another stage of the lifecycle, depending on the intent and application. In addition, life cycle assessments allow the comparison of products based on relevant environmental attributes such as energy consumption.
Listing Requirements
In CleanGredients® data are optional and must be environmentally relevant.
Data and Submission Guidance
Provide a link to a URL, attach a life cycle assessment document or provide a summary of life cycle assessment conclusions.
Implementation (User Interface)
A text box that can be searched via a free text search is included on the CleanGredients®search page.
- Provides text boxes for summaries of life cycle assessment conclusions.
- Provides space to provide a link to a URL for relevant life cycle assessment information.
- Allows document uploading to attach supporting life cycle assessment information.