IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v9y2017i10p1724-d113250.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • 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)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Alberto Navajas & Leire Uriarte & Luis M. Gandía, 2017. "Application of Eco-Design and Life Cycle Assessment Standards for Environmental Impact Reduction of an Industrial Product," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-16, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:10:p:1724-:d:113250
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/10/1724/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/10/1724/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qingsong Wang & Hongkun Xiao & Qiao Ma & Xueliang Yuan & Jian Zuo & Jian Zhang & Shuguang Wang & Mansen Wang, 2020. "Review of Emergy Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment: Coupling Development Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-13, January.
    2. Isabel García Gutiérrez & Daniel Elduque & Carmelo Pina & Rafael Tobajas & Carlos Javierre, 2020. "Influence of the Composition on the Environmental Impact of a Casting Magnesium Alloy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-20, December.
    3. Tatbita Titin Suhariyanto & Dzuraidah Abd Wahab & Mohd Nizam Ab Rahman, 2018. "Product Design Evaluation Using Life Cycle Assessment and Design for Assembly: A Case Study of a Water Leakage Alarm," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-26, August.
    4. Teresa Mendiara & Alberto Navajas & Alberto Abad & Tobias Pröll & Mikel Munárriz & Luis M. Gandía & Francisco García-Labiano & Luis F. de Diego, 2024. "Life Cycle Assessment of Wheat Straw Pyrolysis with Volatile Fractions Chemical Looping Combustion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-14, May.
    5. Núria Boix Rodríguez & Giovanni Formentini & Claudio Favi & Marco Marconi, 2021. "Engineering Design Process of Face Masks Based on Circularity and Life Cycle Assessment in the Constraint of the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-26, April.
    6. Marco Vacchi & Cristina Siligardi & Erika Iveth Cedillo-González & Anna Maria Ferrari & Davide Settembre-Blundo, 2021. "Industry 4.0 and Smart Data as Enablers of the Circular Economy in Manufacturing: Product Re-Engineering with Circular Eco-Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-20, September.
    7. Ana Fonseca & Edgar Ramalho & Ana Gouveia & Filipa Figueiredo & João Nunes, 2023. "Life Cycle Assessment of PLA Products: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-19, August.
    8. Iwona Escher & Pawel Brzustewicz, 2020. "Inter-Organizational Collaboration on Projects Supporting Sustainable Development Goals: The Company Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-26, June.
    9. José Adolfo Lozano-Miralles & Manuel Jesús Hermoso-Orzáez & Alfonso Gago-Calderón & Paulo Brito, 2019. "LCA Case Study to LED Outdoor Luminaries as a Circular Economy Solution to Local Scale," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-18, December.
    10. José Adolfo Lozano-Miralles & Manuel Jesús Hermoso-Orzáez & Carmen Martínez-García & José Ignacio Rojas-Sola, 2018. "Comparative Study on the Environmental Impact of Traditional Clay Bricks Mixed with Organic Waste Using Life Cycle Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-17, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:10:p:1724-:d:113250. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.