Page 24 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

The development of life cycle assessment methods and applications

by the LCA group at the Centre for Design at RMIT University, which included a critical exam- 11
ination of tools for undertaking LCA in the building and construction sector. The project
resulted in a website, Greening the Building Cycle: Life Cycle Assessment Tools in Building and
Construction (http://buildlca.rmit.edu.au), which was completed in 2001. The website
promoted LCA as a tool to assess the environmental impacts of building materials and building
systems in Australia with the aim of improving the environmental performance of the building
and construction sector. It contained case studies, analyses of national and international tools,
environmental performance data sheets and a decision support tool. Contemporaneously, the
Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organisation’s (CSIRO) Division of Mate-
rials undertook research on the embodied energy of building and construction materials and
processes. This was based on input-output analysis (see Chapter 3) and led to the development
of input-output models at Deakin University.
2.1.2 Product design
In 1993, the federal government established the National EcoReDesign Demonstration Project,
undertaken by the Centre for Design at RMIT University, which drew heavily on LCA for the
re-design of products from seven Australian manufacturers. Between 1994 and 1997, the
project re-designed products to demonstrate what ‘design for the environment’ could achieve
for business success and the environment (Environment Australia 1997). The companies
involved and the re-designed products were:
s Caroma – a high-performance water conservation device
s Blackmores – environmentally preferred packaging with the proviso that it would not
compromise existing performance criteria such as point-of-sale appeal and ease of use
s Imaging Technologies – an office vending machine for collecting and recycling toner
cartridges from fax and photocopier machines
s Email – a clothes washing machine designed for maximum performance and resource
efficiency
s Southcorp Whitegoods – a dishwasher designed for recyclability with improved water
and energy efficiency, and eco-based control panels
s Schiavello Commercial Interiors – modular office furniture designed for long life and
recyclability, using environmentally preferred materials.
The LCA work undertaken in this project was limited by the lack of the availability of local
Australian data, and this experience formed one of the key drivers in the subsequent develop-
ment of the National LCI Database.
Other LCAs driven by product design have been undertaken in the commercial furniture,
the packaging and the electronics sectors. Requests from suppliers for information, inclusion
of environmental criteria in tendering documents, introduction of regulations and/or guide-
lines or wanting to improve the knowledge within the company of the environmental impacts
associated with materials and processes are all factors that drive individual companies to com-
mission LCAs.

2.1.3 Waste management
LCA has had a prominent role in waste management (see also Chapter 6). In Australia, the
Victorian government led the way in 1997 by commissioning significant LCA studies into
waste management. These studies guided the development of the first National Packaging
Covenant in 1999. The Victorian government’s Greenhouse Strategy 2002 identified waste as
an important contributor to the greenhouse effect through methane emissions from landfill,
transport and processing of waste, and indirectly via lost savings that could be gained through
recycling of valuable materials. The 2002 Victorian Solid Waste Strategy, which was designed

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