Page 136 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

120 3 Life Cycle Inventory Analysis

Raw material extraction, energy supply
Transport
Pre-product 1 Pre-product 2 Pre-product 3

Production of product under investigation

Use
Recycling
Waste disposal

Primary data
(foreground)
Generic data
(background)

Figure 3.25 Schematical data procurement.
To which extent primary data are available or can be procured depends substan-
tially on whether or not the manufacturer of the examined product is integrated
into the conduct of the LCA. If the manufacturer is the commissioner of the LCA,
the data base of processes of the respective manufacturing plant will be very good.
Missing primary data in this case can be accounted for with justifiable effort. Based
on solid contacts to upstream suppliers of the manufacturer, the latter can usually
persuade them to make data available. Close upstream processes therefore often
imply good (foreground) data quality (see Section 3.7).
The same is true for CLR if it concerns processes within the manufacturing
plant or the supplier. For waste disposal usually non-specific data are available
and can be used unless the product requires specific techniques developed by the
manufacturer (see Figure 3.25).
The availability of primary data often depends on the willingness of companies
to procure data and make them available. Generally it is true that the data situation
gets unspecified to the same extent as the unit process in the production chain is
remote from the commissioner.
If an LCA is not commissioned by an enterprise but by an authority like an
Environmental Agency, closest possible cooperation with enterprises (or trade
associations) concerned with the production and disposal of the examined product
results in improved data records.
The hatched part in Figure 3.25 corresponds to the ‘foreground’ of the inventory
according to a SETAC Europe working group on LCI. 130) In literature several terms
for data categorisation are used. Here, the terms foreground data and primary data
are used synonymously. The same applies for background data and generic data
(see Section 3.4.3.1).

130) SETAC-Europe, 1996.