Life Cycle Assessment: what it is and why it is the right choice for your business

When we talk about Life Cycle Assessment we refer to a tool used to measure the environmental impact generated by a product, an activity or a production process.

This tool is extremely important when you need to think about the life cycle of a particular product and the use of resources that this entails. Among the dynamics that come into play are certainly those related to energy expenditure, which concerns the consumption of electricity and the use of raw materials and water.

Another factor taken into consideration concerns emissions into the environment. From this derives the impact that the production activity entails in terms of waste that is dispersed in the air, water and soil.

When do you decide to carry out the LCA analysis of a product?

This analysis is consistently developed by all companies that want to identify the processes involved in the life cycle of a product, starting from each component up to packaging, distribution and end of life.

This allows companies to adapt to European legislation and regulations for the elimination of emissions, helping to make their product more sustainable and therefore, given the demands of the market, more attractive. This is why having a certified product is an opportunity for every company.

The Life Cycle Assessment allows to evaluate the following aspects:

Extraction and supply of raw materials

That is where the raw materials are obtained from, if in turn they derive from the recovery of previously used materials and what is the impact derived from their extraction.

Production

The production phase can be responsible for CO₂ emissions, as well as for the release into the environment of waste substances that can be dispersed in the soil, water and air. As part of a decarbonization strategy, production processes can be made more sustainable through the use of energy from renewable sources.

Packaging

Product packaging must be designed in such a way as to avoid waste. From eco-design solutions to the redefinition of packaging, using sustainable materials, the important thing is to offer a product that can be recognizable and easily used.

Transport from the production site to the point of sale

Transport can certainly influence the sustainability process. Also in this case there are various solutions and marketing strategies that also take this aspect into account for optimized management.

Usage

Worrying about the use phase of a product and how the user will be able to use it is another dynamic that can affect the aspects related to sustainability.

Disposal of the product and packaging

Disposal of the product is a delicate aspect, especially as regards those products that must be disassembled and then select the recovery parts. In some cases it is useful to understand how to organize a retreat network. The packaging must preferably be single-material and above all recyclable to ensure the recovery of raw material, so as to avoid being dispersed in landfills.

How does the LCA analysis take place?

The analysis of the life cycle of a product is expressed by the ISO 14040/14044 standards. The evaluation takes place in four phases:

The first concerns the definition of objectives and the scope. Through this phase, the objectives of the study and the functional unit are defined, which will be necessary to measure the results.

The second phase is called inventory because the inputs and emissions concerning the product throughout its life cycle are taken into consideration.

The third phase is the one that involves assessing the impacts. The information obtained from the previous phase makes it possible to draw up a ranking of the different impact categories.

The final phase is the one that gives access to the interpretation of the results. The interpretation reveals the interventions and recommendations for reducing the environmental impact.

This type of analysis is essential to understand the life cycle of a product and the production processes. The analysis allows us to understand which processes can be improved and which waste should be avoided in the face of better profitability.

Sada has always been at the forefront of acquiring cutting-edge technologies that allow us to always be one step ahead in the production of recyclable and sustainable packaging in corrugated cardboard.

Through production, it aims to offer the customer a high quality, sustainable, ecological and recyclable product, studied in detail to make the packaging respectful of the environment, minimizing the impact of the activity and committing itself to limiting emissions as much as possible.