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Accelerating life cycle assessment uptake: life cycle management and ‘quick’ LCA tools

s they focus on design and the design process and not just on strategic management or 147
retrospective analysis of existing products
s they combine guidance, information and education
s the content is both specific and broad with respect to, for example, the industry sector
and materials
s they are streamlined and can be easily incorporated into daily practices
s information is presented in easy-to-digest pieces of information
s it compliments the way the user works and can be referred to as and when required.
The following sections investigate the development of two specific quick LCA tools: one for
the packaging supply chain and the second for product designers.

11.5 Examples of LCA tools
As indicated in the introduction to this chapter, product and industrial designers have been
using checklists and principles to guide environmental design considerations for several
decades. There are some excellent, comprehensive manuals and handbooks to assist the design
community (e.g. Yeang 2006). The uptake in eco-design remains patchy, but is gathering
momentum in the face of customer demand. Indeed, in Australia and internationally:
there is a growing demand for certification of Type I or Type III eco-labels from
influential customers such as retailers, manufacturers and government purchasing
programmes (D’Souza et al. 2006).
However, there is also a general and growing need for more detail and accuracy in the infor-
mation. Not least, this is needed to deal with counter-intuitive results arising from misapplica-
tion or misunderstanding of impacts, such as the widely held view that ‘natural’ materials such
as wool or leather must always be environmentally preferable to synthetic alternatives. The role
for quick LCA tools in product design extends well beyond addressing such misapprehensions.
A product-design LCA tool could sit at the intersection between the initial conceptual
design process, the regulatory environmental agenda and the provision of environmental per-
formance information to consumers, purchasers and/or specifiers. Inevitably, a similar set of
needs for quick, accurate, transparent and independent performance-based information exists,
with additional requirements relating to the nature of the products to be evaluated.

11.5.1 Case study 1: The case for a packaging tool
Consumer packaging has been under scrutiny since the 1980s as a potent symbol of single-use
conspicuous consumption culture. Nevertheless, packaging delivers many functions, from
protection and containment to shelf appeal, and almost every product grown and manufac-
tured in modern society is packaged at some stage in its life. Food and beverages are the major
users of packaging, and as the availability of different foodstuffs increases, so does the quantity
and complexity of the corresponding packaging materials around them.
Traditionally, used packaging across the western world has become waste, and this provides
a significant material loss in the industrial system. Used packaging waste in the European
Union (EU) alone will reach an estimated 77 million tonnes by 2008 – an increase of 18% from
the waste generated in 2000 (Monkhouse et al. 2004, p. 13). Clearly, considerable attention is
needed to reduce this material loss. In cash terms alone, world packaging value is estimated to
be US$300 billion per year, with Australia’s contribution valued at A$7 billion per year to
7.5 billion per year (Packaging Council of Australia 2005). As the world industrialises, so the
problem of packaging material loss expands. In Asia, it is estimated that by 2025, 1.8 million

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