Life Cycle Assessment

• What is a Life Cycle Assessment?

  An analysis of the impact of a manufactured product on the environment
• State the stages of the Life Cycle Assessment

  1. Extracting and processing the raw materials needed
  2. Manufacturing the product and it's packaging
  3. Using the product during it's lifetime
  4. Disposing of the product at the end of it's useful life|
• An LCA is likely to include information about the use of:

  • Energy
  • Transport of materials
  • Release of waste substances in the environment
• What are the impacts on the environment by using raw materials?

  • Using up limited resources, e.g ores and crude oil
  • Damaging habitats through quarrying, mining or felling trees
• What impacts of the environment does the manufacturing of products have?

  • Using up land for factories
  • The use of machines and people
• What impacts of the environment does the use of the product have?

  • Wooden chair (Little impact, unless needing to be cleaned or repaired)
  • Using a car (A significant impact)
• What impacts of the environment does the disposal of a product have?

  • Using up land for landfill sites
  • Whether any or all of the product can be recycled or reused
• What materials come from limited natural resources?


  • Metal
  • Glass
  • Building materials
  • Clay ceramics
  • Plastics
• Why are some items made from materials such as metal and plastic less impactful on the environment?

  • Can be reused which saves the most energy
• State 4 advantages of recycling

  • Fewer quarries and mines are needed to extract finite reserves of metal ores
  • Less crude oil needs to be extracted from the crust as a raw material for making plastics
  • Less energy is needed for recycling compared with making a new product from natural resources, reducing the emission of greenhouse gases
  • The amount of waste that is disposed of in landfill is reduced
• State 3 disadvantages of recycling

  • The collection and transport of used items needs organsisation, workers, vehicles and fuel
  • It can be difficult to sort different metals from one another
  • The sorted metal may need to be transported to where it can be turned into ingots
• Stage the stages of Phytomining

  1. Plants are grown on a low-grade ore
  2. The plants absorb metal ions through their roots and concentrate these ions in their cells
  3. The plants are harvested and burnt
  4. The ash left behind contains metal compound
• Although Phytomining is slow, it can

  • Reduce the need to obtain new ore by mining
  • Conserves limited supplies of high-grade ores
  • Reduces the amount of rock waste that must be disposed of after traditional mining
• Suggest a reason why phytomining reduces damage to the environment

  • Mining for metal ores involved quarries which create noise, dust and traffic. Phytomining reduces the need for mining
• State the process of Bioleaching

  • Bacteria is used to break down low-grade ores to produce an acidic solution containing copper ions, known as a leachate
• State the environmental impact of Bioleaching

  • Produces toxic substances, including sulfuric acid, which damages the environment