|
Handbook on environmental assessment of products PrefaceThis handbook on environmental assessment of products contains guidelines on how to carry out simplified life-cycle assessments. The handbook has been created for small and medium-sized companies. The objective is to enable persons with knowledge of general environmental issues to carry out much of the work themselves. The handbook comprises three parts: an introduction, a so-called Cookbook, and a number of appendices. The introduction, Part A, contains three sections. You should familiarise yourself with its contents before carrying out any actual work. Part B, the Cookbook, contains specific instructions on how to carry out environmental assessment and can be used for support whenever an environmental assessment is prepared. The last part – the appendices – is used for reference purposes. The actual method for simplification of environmental assessment, including the MECO principle, was developed by Henrik Wenzel and Nina Caspersen (from the Institute for Product Development) and Anders Schmidt (from dk-TEKNIK). Their work was carried out in connection with the project "Stimulation of small companies' work with cleaner products", as reported in Wenzel et al., 1999. This handbook was prepared as a joint effort involving the Danish Technological Institute and the Institute for Product Development during the period 1999–2000. The contributors were Kirsten Pommer and Pernille Bech from The Danish Technological Instititute and Nina Caspersen, Stig Irving Olsen, and Henrik Wenzel from the Institute for Product Development. The following companies participated in the preparation of this handbook:
The handbook ties in with a work report which explains the simplifications applied in this handbook in relation to the EDIP method.
|