Life Cycle Analysis
our services
Life cycle analysis (LCA) is a powerful tool that gives companies deep insight into the eco-impacts of a company’s products and services. Preparing an LCA involves accounting for all the inputs and outputs required to make a product and modeling them in distinct life cycle phases:
Life cycle analysis can be used to make product design choices, to estimate a product’s ‘carbon footprint’, to target supply chain improvements, and to make product declarations. There are a few different types of LCAs, so understanding the range of possible studies is critical in determining whether and if to conduct an LCA. Comprehensive LCAs employ primary data sources and third-party review and can be used to make ISO-compliant product claims comparing a product to a competitor’s. At the other end of the spectrum, streamlined LCAs use secondary data and are best for determining the “hot spots” in a product’s cradle-to-grave life cycle.
Our life cycle work has ranged from complex, peer-reviewed studies to streamlined assessments that give clients a snapshot of a product’s impacts. Examples of our work include:
- Life cycle assessment of liquid laundry for Seventh Generation
- Peer reviewed LCA for Millipore Corporation
- LCAs on gear, footwear and apparel for The North Face
- Numerous other projects in the automotive, packaging, food, apparel, and plastics industries.
Case Study:
The North Face LCAs
Pure Strategies conducted life cycle analyses (LCAs) of three representative products (backpack, jacket and shoe) to deepen The North Face’s understanding of the life cycle environmental impacts of these products. The following life cycle phases were examined:
- Material Production and Manufacturing
- Distribution
- Retail
- Use
- End of Life
We examined the streamlined life cycle results to determine:
- Which life cycle phase had the most significant environmental impacts
- What drove these product-related impacts (e.g., fabric type, assembly process, supplier location, or disposal method)
- What opportunities The North Face has for reducing product environmental impacts
As expected, for each of the three product LCAs, the material production phase carried the highest burden. Additional product-specific hot spots were also identified, primarily attributable to the products’ individual uses and manufacturing processes. Overall, the assessments validated the focus of existing sustainability initiatives The North Face has undertaken in its supply chain and serve as a guide for future work to reduce environmental impacts in the product lifecycle.
Case Study:
Millipore Sharps LCA
Millipore is a life science company that provides products and services for bioscience research and biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Their Mobius line offers single-use products designed for mixing pharmaceutical ingredients. The company commissioned a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to quantify the potential environmental impacts for different end-of-life management options for these disposable products.
The LCA study will compare three current, end-of-life management scenarios (landfilling, incineration with energy recovery, and incineration without energy recovery) with three end-of-life scenarios proposed by Sharps, a company that provides management solutions for medical waste. Their proposed scenarios would use the Mobius waste product as a fuel source, replacing the use of coal in nearby cement kilns.