life cycle assessments

• a life cycle assessment looks at every stage of a products life to assess the impact it would have on the environment
• extracting raw materials can damage environment. causes pollution. Often need to be processed with large amount of energy
• manufacturing products and their packaging can use lots of energy resources and can also cause lots of pollution due to the amount of energy needed. waste products also formed
• using the product can damage environment. burning fuels releases greenhouse gases. fertilisers can leach into streams. products that need lots of energy to produce but are used for ages means less waste in the long run.
• products are disposed in landfill sites. Takes up space and pollutes land and water. energy is used to transport waste. causes pollution. products may be incinerated (burnt) causing air pollution
• LCA can be biased. Effect of some pollutes can be is hard to give a numerical number. Selective LCA can be biased as only some of the impacts may be shown to give positive advertising to companies