| LCA |
Life-cycle assessment. Statement of all inputs and outputs
from manufacture, use and disposal of a product, a product system, a service or a process.
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| EDIP |
Environmental Development of Industrial Products. The first
and largest Danish project on LCA method development – conducted by Institute for
Product Development at the Danish Technical University.
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| EDIP |
PC tool The Danish Environmental Protection Agency’s
computer programme for LCA statement cf. the EDIP method. Contains a number of process
data from the EDIP project.
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| EDIP method |
Consists of statement of input/output quantities for a
product as well as the three assessment stages: Characterisation, normalisation,
weighting. For each stage, a factor is associated with resource consumption and emissions.
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| Characterisation |
Each resource is stated as the amount of raw material
in the resource. In the characterisation emissions are divided into a number of
categories according to environmental impact, such as global warming. An emission can
contribute to several environmental impacts. All emissions with the same environmental
impact are converted into a common unit, for example CO2 equivalents. 1 gram
of methane gas, for example, is converted into having the same global warming effect as 25
g of CO2.
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| Normalisation |
For each resource and for all emissions the characterised
amount is converted into person equivalents (PE) by relating the amount to annual
consumption or emission for one person. Renewable resources are related to
consumption per person in the local area (DK), whereas consumption of non-renewable
resources is related to consumption per person in the world. For emissions to the
surroundings global warming and ozone-depleting effect are related to emissions per person
in the world, whereas other parameters are related to emissions per person in Denmark.
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| Weighting |
Normalised values as a last assessment stage can be weighted.
For resources weighting is made against supply perspective cf. statistics /36/. This means in practice that resource consumption is
normalised in relation to total reserves in the world per person in the world instead of
normalisation in relation to annual consumption per person in the world. The unit thereby
becomes PR – person reserves. For emissions the normalised values are weighted
with the politically decided reduction objectives in a certain year. Whereas there is
reasonable consensus on the characterisation and normalisation stages, the weighting
method is more debated, which is reflected in a number of methods developed under
different LCA studies worldwide.
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| Allocation |
Means distribution and is used for distribution of
environmental impact upon co-production of several products and for distribution of
environmental impact on virgin and recycled materials when the material is covered by one
or more recycling trips.
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| Loss of utility value |
Used in the EDIP for loss of quality upon recycling of a
material. For example, paper fibres that are shortened every time paper is recycled. Loss
of utility value is not identical to loss upon collection. |
Waste management
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All forms of waste handling and treatment. |
| Energy recovery |
Incineration of waste with recovery of energy.
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| Recycling |
Material recovery where a material is reprocessed for use in
new products that are not necessarily the same as the original products. Recycling does
not cover energy recovery.
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| Reuse |
Upon reuse, a product is reused for its original purpose. For
example reuse of beer bottles.
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| ISAG |
Danish Information System for Waste and Recycling. Came into
use in Denmark in 1993. Its purpose is registration of sources and waste treatment option
for some general waste fractions. Waste treatment enterprises report to the system.
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| EWC |
European Waste Catalogue. A list of waste drawn up under
Council Directive 75/442/EEC on Waste. The list is not an exhaustive list of waste. Waste
included in the list and marked in bold type is hazardous waste when criteria for
hazardousness are complied with. |