Stages in the life cycle
Products go through several stages in their life cycle, starting with the extraction of raw materials up to their end-of-life processing (disposal or recycling). Each stage has to be taken into account:
Adverse effects on the environment
Any product is capable of having an adverse effect on the environment at any time during its life cycle, i.e. depletion of natural resources, energy consumption, pollution and nuisances stemming from the discharge of substances into water, air, or ground, etc.
Improvement boundaries
Improving the characteristics of an existing product means first having to assess all the potential environmental consequences, while factoring in every stage in the product's life cycle.
A multi-stage and multi-criteria assessment of the product's environmental impacts is carried out in order to draw up specifications that set out the requirements to be met for each different type of impact. Each product category has a specific set of requirements and impacts that cover key problematic issues, which can be improved.
Eco-labels
Eco-labels are tools used to highlight a product's level of ecological quality. They guarantee a product's user quality, and also that it has a reduced environmental impact. Products are awarded eco-labels according to a multi-criteria approach (consumption of raw materials and energy, generation of waste, release into air and water) that factors in the product's entire life cycle (from the extraction of raw materials, through use and up to end-of-life).
Definitions:
Multi-stage: factoring in of every stage in a product's life cycle (starting with the extraction of raw materials right up to the product's end-of-life, through all the intermediate stages including production, distribution and use).
Multi-criteria: factoring in of every environmental impact generated (raw materials, energy, preservation of biodiversity, water, air, ground, waste and noise pollution, etc.).
