Page 30 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

The development of life cycle assessment methods and applications

Stage 1 of the LCI was completed after three years with mixed results, as consensus on meth- 17
odology was again difficult to achieve, although through the LCI and other developments,
regional LCA networks were formed in Africa and Latin America (UNEP and SETAC n.d.b).

2.3.3 LCA activity in the Asia Pacific region
In the Asia Pacific region, Japan has for many years led development both at a national level
and in fostering LCA application in Asia and Asian Pacific countries. A series of workshops
sponsored by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) were held from 1998 to 2006 and
are continuing. The focus of these workshops has been on capacity building, inventory devel-
opment, impact assessment and specific applications of LCA in waste management and agri-
culture. Other projects in the region include a project by the Asia Productivity Organisation
on LCA development, and a Japanese project to collect basic data on electricity and materials
from Asian Pacific countries. This has helped to foster growth in LCA in the region, particu-
larly in Thailand and Malaysia.

2.4 Current challenges, developments and initiatives in
Australia
One of the key challenges for LCA in Australia is the ongoing development of LCIs. This is
discussed prior to drawing more general conclusions.

2.4.1 LCI in Australia
In 2006, the National Life Cycle Inventory Database (AusLCI) project led by ALCAS and
CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems in conjunction with EPA Victoria, PACIA, Sustainability
Victoria, Centre for Design at RMIT University, and the Forest and Wood Products Research
and Development Corporation was initiated with the aim of developing national inventory
data in cooperation with industry (CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems 2006b). The initiative
aims to set up a framework and processes for the collection and publishing of consistent LCA
data in Australia through involvement of industry, research organisations and government.
This is a long-term project, and although it has provided new data developments, it is likely to
take several further years for a consistent dataset to be developed. The project is similar in
design – and includes plans to integrate where possible with – other national data projects in
Switzerland, the USA, Malaysia and Thailand, and a European-wide project. The AusLCI ini-
tiative activities are also designed to promote the development of life cycle impact assessment
methods in Australia.
The initiative is a cross-sectoral project to develop data in many sectors; including building
materials, energy systems, agriculture, packaging and waste management (Table 2.1). Each
sector and companies within the sector are responsible for participating in and funding the
data collection, with support from the initiative to review and publish, and develop agreed
guidelines and methods for undertaking the LCI (CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems 2006a).
Table 2.2 presents an overview of the status of LCI in Australia, identifying sectors and/or
industries where:
s research on data collection has been undertaken for more than five years, or
s there is increasing interest in LCA (i.e. work has been conducted in the past five years),
or
s there is still a lack of interest in data collection.

As discussed earlier in this chapter, public LCI work has been underway in Australia since
the early 1990s. However, there has been relatively little coordination between different

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