Life cycle sustainability assessment results

In summary, LCSA is a hohstic approach to assess the life cycle sustainability of a product/service, which is inclusive for three pillars of sustainability. It overcomes the difficulty in quantifying social indicators to provide relatively indicative quantitative results. 

This new method is named SEEBALANCE. SEEBALANCE targets the adoption of life-cycle social data to the results of eco-efficiency analysis for a complete sustainability assessment methodology. It is a helpful tool in different fields for the evaluation of product or process alternatives. " ... 

For an assessment of the sustainability profile, it is not enough to look at laundry detergent surfactants in isolation the whole life-cycle has to be taken into account.In order to arrive at soundly based conclusions, the total washing process must be analyzed. To enable the findings for different systems to be compared, all results must be related to a functional unit e.g. the cleaning of 1 kg of laundry. A systematic analysis of the total process is then carried out in the context of a so-called life-cycle assessment (LCA), in which all the system s inputs and outputs are systematically recorded and assessed. ... 

It is sometimes assumed in that polymers from renewable resources are by definition environmentally friendly , or in modern parlance, sustainable . One definition of sustainable suggests that the development of new products for the benefit of society should not have an unacceptable effect on resource depletion and environmental pollution. However, unacceptable is a relative term and invites comparison of one material with another by life-cycle assessment (LCA). Companies engaged in the development of degradable polymers from renewable resources have initiated life-cycle assessment comparisons of their products with the commodity synthetic polymers, notably polyethylene. It has not so far been shown unambiguously that bio-based polymers are more environmentally sustainable than the present range of commodity polymers . This results from the same reason that led to concern in the 1980s namely lack of consistency and uniformity of the assumptions made. In some cases they actually contradict one another. 

---