Application of Eco-Design and Life Cycle Assessment Standards for Environmental Impact Reduction of an Industrial Product

Alberto Navajas, Leire Uriarte and Luis M. Gandía
Additional contact information
Alberto Navajas: Department of Applied Chemistry and Institute for Advanced Materials (InaMat), Public University of Navarre, E-31006 Pamplona, Spain
Leire Uriarte: Department of Applied Chemistry and Institute for Advanced Materials (InaMat), Public University of Navarre, E-31006 Pamplona, Spain
Luis M. Gandía: Department of Applied Chemistry and Institute for Advanced Materials (InaMat), Public University of Navarre, E-31006 Pamplona, Spain

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 10, 1-16

Abstract: Eco-design is included within the framework of the standard for “Environmental management systems—Guidelines for incorporating Eco-design” (ISO 14006:2011). Eco-design process, as defined in standard, has six steps: (i) Specify product functions; (ii) Environmental assessment of products; (iii) Strategies of improvement; (iv) Environmental objectives; (v) Product specification; and (vi) Technical solutions. Step (ii), determination of the stage or process of the product life cycle that has the highest environmental impact; this is perhaps the most controversial step because the standard does not specify which tool should be used. This lack of specification has generated some distrust with regard to eco-design, hindering its development. In order to make a trustworthy eco-design, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) should be applied as a tool for environmental impact quantification. The main objective of this work is to apply standardised eco-design methodology for the reduction of the environmental impact of an industrial product in Spain using LCA as a tool for the environmental product assessment. LCA standardised process (ISO 14040,14044:2006) is included in the eco-design process. A glass container intended for cough syrup delivery has been selected as an industrial product to be eco-designed. Following the methodology described, the overall normalised impact decreased 35.1% when a PET container substituted a glass container. Environmental impacts have been reduced following standardised eco-design and LCA methodologies, serving as an example to industry and administration regarding how to eco-design with the confidence of obtaining reliable results.

Keywords: industrial ecology; life cycle assessment; eco-design; ISO 14006:2011 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/10/1724/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/10/1724/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:10:p:1724-:d:113250

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().