The heightened awareness of environmental protection, and the possible impacts associated with products manufactured and consumed on it, has led to the devel­opment of methods to better comprehend and reduce those impacts (ISO 14040 1997). Life-cycle assessment (LCA) has been postulated as an important and comprehensive technique. In an LCA study, the whole system involved in the production, use and waste management of a product or a service is described. Intuitively, one can understand LCA as a structured and comprehensive technique to assess the potential environmental impacts and resources used throughout a product’s life-cycle, i. e. from raw material acquisition via production and use phases, to waste management (Baumann and Tillman 2004). LCA studies are done in various contexts (ISO 14040 1997), assisting in

• identifying opportunities for improving the environmental aspects of products at various points in their life-cycle;

• decision-making in industry, governmental or non-governmental organisations (e. g. strategic planning, priority setting, product or process design or redesign);

• the selection of relevant indicators of environmental performance, including measurement techniques; and

• marketing (e. g. environmental claim, eco-labelling or environmental product declaration.

The LCA method has its origins mainly in the packaging and waste management, as well as the oil crisis and the energy debate at the beginning of the 1970s. Pioneers in the field of LCA were industrialised countries such as the USA, the UK, Germany and Sweden. It is generally accepted the first LCA was a study on the consequences of packaging and manufacturing beverage containers by the Midwest Research Institute on behalf of Coca Cola (Baumann and Tillman 2004). Subsequent to that other studies were initiated in Europe in both the private (Tetra Pak) and public (German Federal Ministry of Education and Science) sectors. Although public interest waned due to the ending of the first energy crisis in the late 1970s, private businesses and certain industries (e. g. product design) remained interested in the LCA approach. An increased environmental awareness in the 1980s saw once again the need in focussing on a systematic approach for capturing the environmental

impacts of product or service systems. The 1990s were characterised by the harmonisation and standardisation of the LCA methodology (e. g. ISO standards 14040-14044). Today LCA represents a common environmental assessment tool which is predominantly applied in the primary and secondary production sectors. The importance and relevance of LCA can be identified by a steadily growing number of LCA studies. Various software suppliers, such as SimaPro, GaBi and Umberto, have developed user-friendly LCA interfaces.

An LCA is structured into of four phases, namely (1) goal and scope definition, (2) inventory analysis, where an inventory of the relevant inputs and outputs of a product, process or service system is compiled, (3) impact assessment, where the potential environmental impacts associated with those inputs and outputs are evaluated and (4) interpreting the results of the inventory analysis and impact assessment phases in relation to the objectives of the study (refer to Fig. 11.1). Each phase is elaborated on below.