- Email: [email protected]
Japan
International Activity Reports line, Life Cycle Concepts (Z760.1) is a simpler approach to LCA. CSA is also publishing an additional document,
User's Guide to Life Cycle Assessment: Conceptual LCA in Practice (PLUS 1107). The three publications are due in the spring of 1994. The Life Cycle Review Guideline, which has been generated primarily to assist small and medium businesses, may still be used by larger manufacturers as well. However, these manufacturers would probably also choose to use the more detailed CSA L C A guideline. The four main phases (Initiation, Inventory, Impact and Improvement) remain the basic elements of both types of study. The Initiation (scoping) phase is common for both studies. In the L C A document, the Inventory phase has been fully harmonized with SETAC criteria and follows the US E P A work in this area. The Impact section summarizes most of the international methodologies available today, including the European ones. It also focuses on what have been called 'selected impact indicators' based on the 'practical impact indicators' identified by Environment Canada. The Improvement phase is not extensive in
this guideline because the guideline on DFE, currently under development, outlines improvement criteria in great detail. The Life Cycle Review guideline has been designed to allow companies to understand L C A concepts and identify the associated areas of environmental concern that their own products create. By focusing on the concerns, manufacturers will be able to modify the design of their products or services to reduce environmental loads. CSA hopes that these L C A guidelines will ultimately lead to improved environmental performance of products, processes and activities. The CSA guidelines are not designed to be reference manuals that will inevitably sit on the shelf. Instead, they are intended to be clearly documented 'how-to' manuals which will allow manufacturers to perform an L C A of their particular product or process. In devising the guidelines, CSA recognized several very important factors that separate this initiative from existing frameworks. 1. First, and perhaps most important in these financially difficult times,
are the economic factors involved. To put it bluntly, if the process is not affordable, it will not work. 2. The process must be time-effective. Companies will always be reluctant to commit to a process involving a long-term commitment. 3. The process must be able to accommodate both large and small corporations. It is important to make the guideline applicable to as wide an audience as possible. 4. The documents must be 'user friendly'. If companies are bombarded with technical terms they will either decline to take part, or begin to undertake the study and eventually become lost in the technicalities. The guide must be clear, concise, and written in simple terms. These four rules will help ensure that the guidelines are applicable, as opposed to being yet another technical framework.
Ahmad Husseini CSA, Canada
Japan
A great variety of organizations in Japan, including private corporations, federal ministries and non-governmental organizations, are in the process of investigating LCAs, but at the centre of all this activity is the Japan Eco-Life Center (JELC) and its L C A Japan research group. JELC was founded in June 1991 in order to research the environmental management practices of corporations as a broad-based network including the governmental, industrial, academic and grass-roots sectors. LCA Japan was established by JELC in July 1992 as an 'incubator' for the promotion of L C A research and application in Japan. In the future,
192
L C A Japan aims to expand its activities to become a forum and/or academy for L C A research in Japan. Its present members are primarily corporate buyers of container and packaging products, and the Environment Agency and the Ministry of Industry and International Trade participate as observers. LCA and environmental auditing In order to create a sustainable society, the concept of 'extended producer responsibility' is necessary. Three key aspects of this are a corporation's 'product responsibility', 'environmental impact minimization responsibility', and 'waste responsibility'. L C A is currently
J. Cleaner Prod. 1993 Volume 1 Number 3-4
being looked to as an effective tool to promote the first two concepts. Environmental audits as well as environmental management systems are a means for getting corporations to fulfil these social responsibilities. However, most large corporations in Japan are actively reviewing the environmental impacts of their own corporate activities, and are seeking not regulatory, but voluntary approaches to reducing these impacts to the greatest possible extent. In order for corporations to conduct environmental audits, there needs to be a system of environmental assessments for products and facilities, and for assessing the direct and indirect
International Activity Reports impacts of corporate activities on the environment; we believe that the means towards this is LCA. In the forthcoming 'Environmental Policy Law', the Japanese government is regulating what corporations must do to reduce their impacts on the environment, and the need for L C A is also included in this law:
Environmental Poficy Law Article 8 2 In manufacturing, processing, or selling products or engaging in other activities, enterprises are responsible for taking the necessary measures for ensuring the proper disposal of the wastes, which will be generated from products and other things related to their activities, so as to prevent hindrance to environmental conservation, based on the basic ideas. 3 Besides the responsibilities prescribed in the preceding paragraphs, in manufacturing, processing, or selling products or engaging in other activities, enterprises are responsible for making efforts to reduce the environmental burdens resulting from the use or discard of the products and other things related to their activities; and for making efforts to use recycled resources, and other materials and services to contribute to reducing the environmental burdens in their activities, so as to prevent hindrance to environmental conservation, based on the basic ideas. Current state of LCA research in Japan (Note: passages marked * are projects that the author is leading. Those marked t are research projects by organizations with whom the author has a regular exchange of information.) • JELC and the Environment Agency have completed an investigation with regard to L C A use in Japan, including
basic methodology, and some problem points in the standardization of LCAs. *LCA Japan is conducting basic research and information exchange on LCAs, data collection and inventory research, and is conducting case studies of L C A for beverage containers. tPlastic Waste Management Institute Japan is conducting research on the use of L C A methodology in plastic material packaging and containers. tThe Chemical Economics Institute is conducting assessments of the environmental impact of containers specifically concentrating on energy use. *The Japan Consumers' Cooperative Union (Co-op) is using LCA to study the environmental impact of containers and packaging, and is looking into drafting environmental guidelines for their products which would include the choice of environment-friendly packaging and recycling. These guidelines will be used to input environmental issues into the Co-op's overall product marketing strategy. *The Science and Technology Agency has an Eco-Materials Project, through which they are investigating the use of LCAs to minimize the impacts related to materials and material technology. In order to further research and promote the use of eco-materials, they have subsequently created the EcoMaterials Research Group. Both the Environment Agency and the Ministry of Industry and International Trade are planning to continue their research on LCA. Both are considering the use of L C A with the objective of reducing the environmental impacts of corporate activities. This indicates that we are going to see the very rapid development of L C A research and use in Japan in the coming years.
Contents of the JELC/Environment Agency Research L C A can provide a report card of the various impacts of a certain product or package, but it will not give one easy answer. This is because a report card might tell a person that they're good at Maths but bad at English. So the best use of the L C A is to use it to improve the bad subjects and to continue work in the good ones. It can recommend areas for improvement and furthermore, the effects of recycling can be quantified. L C A can be used to compare products A and B on one single criterion. But L C A is not some kind of magic wand, although it can be effective. It is also very difficult to measure environmental impacts with LCA. Comprehensive assessment of a product's price, quality, safety, etc. are necessary. To these aspects, we feel that environment should be added, and that L C A is the means to do this. In compiling category data, one should use environmental standards, or international standards if international consensus has been reached, for the weighting coefficients. In general, data within categories should be compiled, but not data between categories. Major research tasks for the future include: 1. process boundary definition, especially with regards to how to deal with materials from overseas; 2. secondary products, and accounting for recycling; 3. mutual comparison of data; 4. creating an L C A database, both domestic and international; 5. clarifying the differences in methodologies and standardization; 6. the need for a multisectoral, cooperative system.
Ken Morishita Japan Eco-Life Center
J. Cleaner Prod. 1993 Volume 1 Number 3-4
193
User's Guide to Life Cycle Assessment: Conceptual LCA in Practice (PLUS 1107). The three publications are due in the spring of 1994. The Life Cycle Review Guideline, which has been generated primarily to assist small and medium businesses, may still be used by larger manufacturers as well. However, these manufacturers would probably also choose to use the more detailed CSA L C A guideline. The four main phases (Initiation, Inventory, Impact and Improvement) remain the basic elements of both types of study. The Initiation (scoping) phase is common for both studies. In the L C A document, the Inventory phase has been fully harmonized with SETAC criteria and follows the US E P A work in this area. The Impact section summarizes most of the international methodologies available today, including the European ones. It also focuses on what have been called 'selected impact indicators' based on the 'practical impact indicators' identified by Environment Canada. The Improvement phase is not extensive in
this guideline because the guideline on DFE, currently under development, outlines improvement criteria in great detail. The Life Cycle Review guideline has been designed to allow companies to understand L C A concepts and identify the associated areas of environmental concern that their own products create. By focusing on the concerns, manufacturers will be able to modify the design of their products or services to reduce environmental loads. CSA hopes that these L C A guidelines will ultimately lead to improved environmental performance of products, processes and activities. The CSA guidelines are not designed to be reference manuals that will inevitably sit on the shelf. Instead, they are intended to be clearly documented 'how-to' manuals which will allow manufacturers to perform an L C A of their particular product or process. In devising the guidelines, CSA recognized several very important factors that separate this initiative from existing frameworks. 1. First, and perhaps most important in these financially difficult times,
are the economic factors involved. To put it bluntly, if the process is not affordable, it will not work. 2. The process must be time-effective. Companies will always be reluctant to commit to a process involving a long-term commitment. 3. The process must be able to accommodate both large and small corporations. It is important to make the guideline applicable to as wide an audience as possible. 4. The documents must be 'user friendly'. If companies are bombarded with technical terms they will either decline to take part, or begin to undertake the study and eventually become lost in the technicalities. The guide must be clear, concise, and written in simple terms. These four rules will help ensure that the guidelines are applicable, as opposed to being yet another technical framework.
Ahmad Husseini CSA, Canada
Japan
A great variety of organizations in Japan, including private corporations, federal ministries and non-governmental organizations, are in the process of investigating LCAs, but at the centre of all this activity is the Japan Eco-Life Center (JELC) and its L C A Japan research group. JELC was founded in June 1991 in order to research the environmental management practices of corporations as a broad-based network including the governmental, industrial, academic and grass-roots sectors. LCA Japan was established by JELC in July 1992 as an 'incubator' for the promotion of L C A research and application in Japan. In the future,
192
L C A Japan aims to expand its activities to become a forum and/or academy for L C A research in Japan. Its present members are primarily corporate buyers of container and packaging products, and the Environment Agency and the Ministry of Industry and International Trade participate as observers. LCA and environmental auditing In order to create a sustainable society, the concept of 'extended producer responsibility' is necessary. Three key aspects of this are a corporation's 'product responsibility', 'environmental impact minimization responsibility', and 'waste responsibility'. L C A is currently
J. Cleaner Prod. 1993 Volume 1 Number 3-4
being looked to as an effective tool to promote the first two concepts. Environmental audits as well as environmental management systems are a means for getting corporations to fulfil these social responsibilities. However, most large corporations in Japan are actively reviewing the environmental impacts of their own corporate activities, and are seeking not regulatory, but voluntary approaches to reducing these impacts to the greatest possible extent. In order for corporations to conduct environmental audits, there needs to be a system of environmental assessments for products and facilities, and for assessing the direct and indirect
International Activity Reports impacts of corporate activities on the environment; we believe that the means towards this is LCA. In the forthcoming 'Environmental Policy Law', the Japanese government is regulating what corporations must do to reduce their impacts on the environment, and the need for L C A is also included in this law:
Environmental Poficy Law Article 8 2 In manufacturing, processing, or selling products or engaging in other activities, enterprises are responsible for taking the necessary measures for ensuring the proper disposal of the wastes, which will be generated from products and other things related to their activities, so as to prevent hindrance to environmental conservation, based on the basic ideas. 3 Besides the responsibilities prescribed in the preceding paragraphs, in manufacturing, processing, or selling products or engaging in other activities, enterprises are responsible for making efforts to reduce the environmental burdens resulting from the use or discard of the products and other things related to their activities; and for making efforts to use recycled resources, and other materials and services to contribute to reducing the environmental burdens in their activities, so as to prevent hindrance to environmental conservation, based on the basic ideas. Current state of LCA research in Japan (Note: passages marked * are projects that the author is leading. Those marked t are research projects by organizations with whom the author has a regular exchange of information.) • JELC and the Environment Agency have completed an investigation with regard to L C A use in Japan, including
basic methodology, and some problem points in the standardization of LCAs. *LCA Japan is conducting basic research and information exchange on LCAs, data collection and inventory research, and is conducting case studies of L C A for beverage containers. tPlastic Waste Management Institute Japan is conducting research on the use of L C A methodology in plastic material packaging and containers. tThe Chemical Economics Institute is conducting assessments of the environmental impact of containers specifically concentrating on energy use. *The Japan Consumers' Cooperative Union (Co-op) is using LCA to study the environmental impact of containers and packaging, and is looking into drafting environmental guidelines for their products which would include the choice of environment-friendly packaging and recycling. These guidelines will be used to input environmental issues into the Co-op's overall product marketing strategy. *The Science and Technology Agency has an Eco-Materials Project, through which they are investigating the use of LCAs to minimize the impacts related to materials and material technology. In order to further research and promote the use of eco-materials, they have subsequently created the EcoMaterials Research Group. Both the Environment Agency and the Ministry of Industry and International Trade are planning to continue their research on LCA. Both are considering the use of L C A with the objective of reducing the environmental impacts of corporate activities. This indicates that we are going to see the very rapid development of L C A research and use in Japan in the coming years.
Contents of the JELC/Environment Agency Research L C A can provide a report card of the various impacts of a certain product or package, but it will not give one easy answer. This is because a report card might tell a person that they're good at Maths but bad at English. So the best use of the L C A is to use it to improve the bad subjects and to continue work in the good ones. It can recommend areas for improvement and furthermore, the effects of recycling can be quantified. L C A can be used to compare products A and B on one single criterion. But L C A is not some kind of magic wand, although it can be effective. It is also very difficult to measure environmental impacts with LCA. Comprehensive assessment of a product's price, quality, safety, etc. are necessary. To these aspects, we feel that environment should be added, and that L C A is the means to do this. In compiling category data, one should use environmental standards, or international standards if international consensus has been reached, for the weighting coefficients. In general, data within categories should be compiled, but not data between categories. Major research tasks for the future include: 1. process boundary definition, especially with regards to how to deal with materials from overseas; 2. secondary products, and accounting for recycling; 3. mutual comparison of data; 4. creating an L C A database, both domestic and international; 5. clarifying the differences in methodologies and standardization; 6. the need for a multisectoral, cooperative system.
Ken Morishita Japan Eco-Life Center
J. Cleaner Prod. 1993 Volume 1 Number 3-4
193