Life Cycle Assessments

Question 1

What is a life cycle assessment?

Answer 1

It looks at each stage of the life of a product, and works out the potential environmentally impact of each stage.

Question 2

What are the four stages of a product’s life?

Answer 2

1. Choice of material
2. Manufacture
3. Product use
4. Disposal

Question 3

What happens during ‘choice of material’?

Answer 3

• Mining metals and extracting them needs lots of energy and causes pollution.
• Raw materials for chemical manufacture often come from crude oil; finite, requires lots of energy to obtain and refine, generating pollution.

Question 4

What happens during ‘manufacture’?

Answer 4

• Manufacturing products uses a lot of energy and other resources.
• Can cause pollution (CO or HCl).
• Some waste can be recycled into other useful chemicals, reducing the amount that pollutes the environment.
• Water is also needed - businesses need to make sure it is not polluted by the end of the process.

Question 5

What happens during ‘product use’?

Answer 5

• Paint gives off toxic fumes.
• Burning fuels releases greenhouse gases and other harmful substances.
• Fertilisers can leach into streams and rivers, causing damage to ecosystems.

Question 6

What happens during ‘disposal’?

Answer 6

• Products are often disposed of in a landfill.
• Landfill takes up space and pollutes land and water.
• Products might be incinerated (burnt), causing air pollution.
• Products can also be disposed of through recycling.