LCA of an Ecolabeled Notebook - GreenDeltaTC

Goal and Scope
2.2.4.2.1 Environmental Impact Assessment
For the calculation of the environmental impacts, the method “ReCiPe” was selected. 41
ReCiPe is one of the most recent life cycle impact assessment methods (LCIAM). Compared
to for example Eco-indicator 99, it contains a sophisticated resource modelling.
ReCiPe combines the midpoint with the endpoint approach. Further, the method is
available in three versions: egalitarian, individualist, and hierarchist. The egalitarian
version is a long-term consideration of environmental impacts, while the individualist
version assesses impacts in a short-term view. The hierarchist perspective is a combination
of both approaches and is the default version of the method, why it is applied in
this case study.
In general, the application of ReCiPe is recommended by LCA experts. 42
The method addresses the following midpoint impact categories:
� Climate change human health
� Climate change ecosystems
� Ozone depletion
� Terrestrial acidification
� Freshwater eutrophication
� Marine eutrophication
� Human toxicity
� Photochemical oxidant formation
� Particulate matter formation
The endpoint categories are as follows:
� Damage to human health
� Damage to the ecosystem
� Damage to resource availability
Both midpoint and endpoint categories were used, because both approaches have
different advantages and disadvantages. A midpoint-based assessment allows a transparent
analysis of environmental impacts with relative low uncertainties, but midpoint
categories are rather difficult to interpret for laypeople. The consideration of endpoint
categories is in contrast very easy to understand, but the results are less detailed and
contain higher uncertainties.
Normalisation is applied in order to facilitate the derivation of recommendations.
The endpoint perspective of ReCiPe comprises a weighting step. Human health and
ecosystem quality are both assessed with 40%; depletion of resources is weighted with
20%.
41 Goedkoop et al. (2009)
42 Goedkoop et al. (2010)
� Fresh water ecotoxicity
� Marine ecotoxicity
� Ionising radiation
� Agricultural land occupation
� Urban land occupation
� Natural land transformation
� Metal depletion
� Fossil depletion
� Terrestrial ecotoxicity
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