Ways of reducing the use of resources

• first step in LCA

  extracting and processing the raw materials needed
• step two in LCA

  manufacturing the product and its packaging
• step 3 in LCA


  using the product during its lifetime
• step 4 in LCA

  disposing of the product at the end of its useful life
• Raw materials, Manufacture, Use, Disposal
• All the raw materials we need come from the Earth's crust, atmosphere or oceans, or are due to living organisms.
• Obtaining these materials has an impact on the environment, including:

  • using up limited resources such as ores and crude oil
  • damaging habitats through quarrying, mining, or felling trees
• The manufacture of products has an impact on the environment, including:

  • using up land for factories
  • the use of machines and people
• The impact of a product on the environment during its use depends on the type of product. 
• The disposal of old products has an impact on the environment, including:

  • using up land for landfill sites
  • whether any or all of the product can be recycled or reused
• recycled


  Used materials that have been reprocessed to make new materials.
• However, some parts of a LCA require judgements, such as the effect of pollutants. This means that completing a LCA is not a totally objective process, and different people might come up with different judgements.
• It is important to consider who has completed the LCA and whether they have any bias.
• If you recycle, 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=recycling
• • less energy is needed for recycling compared with making a new product from natural resources, so the emission of greenhouse gases is reduced=recycling
• • the amount of waste that is disposed of in landfill is reduced=recycling
• Disadvantages of recycling:

  • the collection and transport of used items needs organisation, 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
• The Earth's supply of metal ores is limited.
• phytomining =Using plants to absorb metal compounds from the ground through their roots. The plants are then burned to produce an ash containing a high concentration of the metal compounds.
• 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 compounds
• Phytomining is slow but it:

  • reduces 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
• Mining for metal ores involves quarries, which are large holes in the ground. These create noise, dust and traffic. They also destroy natural habitats. Phytomining reduces the need for mining and reduces this damage.
• bioleaching


  Using bacteria to extract metals from their ores.
• Bioleaching does not need high temperatures but it produces toxic substances, including sulfuric acid, which damage the environment.
• Since iron is cheaper than copper, the use of scrap iron is a cost-effective way to produce copper from the leachate.
• Iron is more reactive than copper. It can displace copper from the leachate.