5. Environmental and sustainability labels, Product Life Cycle Assessment, Ecodesign
Project
Development of economic and social criteria for product assessments
The quantification of environmental effects of products is well developed by methods like life cycle assessments according to ISO 14040. But the quantification of social and economic aspects remains vague. Labels like Fair Trade exist for only very few products and don’t quantify the results of the product assessment. Focus of this product is to develop criteria for quantification of social and economic effects of products and thus increase transparency of product assessments. The criteria will be tested in case studies with Austrian companies. Sustainable Product Reports will be published. The project results aim to assist consumers in their product choice and companies in the inclusion of sustainability aspects in product development.
Project management:
Technische Universität Wien, Inst. F. Konstruktionswissenschaften und Technische Logistik, Prof. Dipl.Ing. Dr. Wolfgang Wimmer
Project partner:
Institut für ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung, IÖW, Univ.Doz.Mag.Dr. Christine Jasch
Project duration: August 2008 – July 2010
Project finance: Jubiläumsfonds der österreichischen Nationalbank
Publication: download pdf
Project
Basque sustainability label
Project title:
Developing the Basque national label into a comprehensive sustainability label
for products and services
Duration:
February 2004 to July 2004
The project was commissioned by IHOBE.
Project Coordinator:
Dr. Christine Jasch, IÖW-Institute for Environmental Management and EconomicsProject
Partners:
Dr. Gabriele Hrauda, Johannes Puhrer, IÖW
Prospektiker www.prospektiker.es
Daniela Velte, Ibon Zugasti
Content of the project:
Ecolabels have been present in Europe for many years and are in some cases widely
spread. Examples are the Nordic Swan (Scandinavia), the blue angel (Germany),
and the Hundertwasserzeichen (Austria).
The EU ecolabel, "the flower”, has been around for 13 Years. In 2000,
the entire European ecolabel scheme was revised following the newest studies
conducted on relevant environmental criteria and the related framework.
Currently (2003), there are EU ecolabel guidelines for 22 product groups. Five
of these are being revised and assessment criteria for two other product groups
are being developed.
Since some products are not allowed to be assigned ecolabels due to the legal
framework, such as food, other labels of approval have been introduced as for
organic farming.
Additionally, some countries have national quality labels for agricultural products,
such as Austria and the Basque Country. Residents and tourists are often satisfied
with a quality label that states that the product comes from regional, small
farm production. It does not even have to be organic. This project attempts
to widen the criteria to include sustainability dimensions of into a label that
already carries Basque identity and local acceptance.
The following project steps were performed:
- Compiling information on products, services, and product-service systems
that already have an ecolabel or could potentially have one. The focus here
is primarily on services and product-service systems.
At this moment, due to the legal framework, certain labels cannot be assigned
to certain product groups, e.g. in Austria, where the national ecolabel cannot
be assigned to food. However, there are other labels that specifically focus
on organic farming or products from Austria.
- To reduce the confusion of the consumer, the project attempts to expand
the Basque quality label so that it can include different products and especially
services with a clear statement about their sustainability effects. This project
step will consist of comparing the criteria of existing quality and ecolabels,
and analysing the legal framework of the Basque country label based on Austrian
experiences.
- The creation of a catalogue of criteria for the evaluation of the sustainability
profile of a service or product, ideally including examples per product/service
area. A characteristic of such a composition is the combination of "must
do” and "should do” criteria, that allows for a more flexible
application of the guideline, especially for services.
Publicationen:
- Jasch Ch., Hrauda G., Überblick zu den österreichischen Umwelt-, Bio- und anderen Zeichen und Evaluierung der Übertragbarkeit auf das Baskenland, Expertenbericht IÖW im Auftrag von IHOBE, Bilbao, Oktober 2004. download PDF
Project
ECODESIGN
stands
for the integration of environmental aspects in product development and the
improvement of existing products with regard to their environmental performance.
Together with the Austrian National Award for Design, in 1993 for the first time
an award for ECODESIGN was granted. The IÖW prepared this award by development
of a questionnaire for the companies and products on the related environmental
impact and was co-organiser. The aim of the award is to stimulate ideas and solutions
for environmental sound products and to increase awareness amongst designers and
other people involved.
Publication:
-
ECODESIGN: Wettbewerb für eine umweltgerechte Produktgestaltung; Broschüre
zum Wettbewerb; Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Jugend und Familie,
für Wissenschaft und Forschung, für wirtschaftliche Angelegenheiten,
Wien 1993
Ecodesign Manual
On behalf of the Ministry of Environment the IÖW
wrote a manual on ECODESIGN. The target group are all people involved in product
development and product life cycle assessment.
Publication:
- S. Geißler, Ch. Harant, G. Hrauda, Ch. Jasch, S. Millonig: Ecodesign
- Fibel für Anwender, November 1993 (Schriftenreihe des IÖW 20/1993)
EU-Project
Life Cycle Design
From April 1994 to March 1996 the IÖW
together with research partners in Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal, worked
on the development of methodologies for environmental product development, within
the framework of the EU Programm Environment and Climate 1993.
In each country, casestudies supplemented this process. The project
resulted in a manual for environmental sound construction and design of
complex products.
Life Cycle Design is the environmentally sound design of products through
the whole lifecycle starting from exploitation and processing of raw materials
preproduction, production, distribution, to use and returning materials
back into the industrial cycles.
In detail, the objectives were as follows: Stock-taking and analysis of
weak spots of environmental problems of complex products;
- Stock-taking and analysis of weak spots of environmental problems of complex
products;
- Evaluation of existing approaches for the environmentally sound product
design;
- Development of scientifically based and practical tested guidelines for
the environmentally sound construction of complex products,
- Specification and application of the methods to different products in case
studies (in co-operation with companies),
- Creation of a user orientated manual
On the basis of the weak spot analysis, the interview with experts and the evaluation
of other concepts, a catalog of criteria for design and evaluation of environmentally
sound products was put together. The overall context of environmental and disposal
problems during the whole life cycle of a product from design to the use of recycled
substances and waste disposal is treated. An environmentally desirable product
design, based on a careful treatment of resources and the prevention of waste
and harmful substances and allowing closed cycles for as many substances as possible
has the highest priority. Requirements for establishing closed cycles or the minimising
of certain harmful substances are formulated for product design. In order to make
environmental product design operational, the catalog is development as a criteria
checklist. An ABC-scheme is integrated in the checklist, enabling designers to
quickly reveal weak spots.
Based on the results of the case studies a catalog of principles and criteria
was set, e.g.:
-
Ecologic efficiency
-
Optimal function
-
Save resources
-
Use renewable and sufficiently available resources
-
Increase product durability
-
Design for product reuse
-
Design for material recycling
-
Design for disassembly
-
Minimise harmful substances
-
Produce in an environment-friendly manner
-
Minimise environmental impact during product use
-
Use of environment-friendly packaging
-
Dispose of non-recyclable materials in an environment-friendly way
-
Implementing environment-friendly logistics
The methods developed (guidelines, checklist, short ecobalance) were applied
to the following products and tested (co-operation partners in brackets):
-
Telephones (Loewe Binatone GmbH; IZT, Germany
-
Vacuum cleaners (Household Appliance Company, IZT, Germany)
-
Videotaperecorder (IR3 GmbH, IÖW, Austria)
-
Swivel chairs (Wiesner & Hager, IÖW, Austria)
-
Lightning systems, (Luminance; IVAM, The Netherlands)
-
Cables (Draka Cable ltd., IVAM, The Netherlands)
-
Electronic ignition (Delco Remi, INETI, Portugal)
Publication:
- Life Cycle Design. A manual for small and medium sized companies, March
1996 (IZT Institut
für Zukunftsstudien und Technologiebewertung, Berlin; University
of Amsterdam; IÖW Institut
für ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung, Wien; INETI/ITA
Instituto de Tecnologias Ambientais, Portugal), Springer Verlag. The publication
has also been translated into japanese.
Project
EMAS and ECODESIGN
From November 1994 to June 1995 the IÖW together with the video tape recorder
company iR3 Video International GmbH did a rather large project on implementing
both systems, EMAS and Ecodesign, within the management system of the company.
The aim was to combine the two methodologies. First project step was a comprehensive
initial review of the site and it«s main product, followed by an environmental
programme. Then the project split in two parts. The environmental management
system was planned in coordination with the existing ISO 9000 quality system.
The ECODESIGN part was the case study for the Life Cycle Design project. A
screening LCA and other methods for product optimisation were applied. There
is no publication of the company project.
Project: The influence of environmental labels and awards on environmental product development
The two market based instruments Ecolabelling and Ecodesign award
reach different target groups. While ecolabelling primarily focusses on information
for consumers in their purchase decision, ecodesign targets to influence companies
and designers in their strategic product development decision. Ecodesign already
starts with the product idea and may even lead to no product at all. Ecolabels
on the contrary stimulate a specific product optimisation for market share reasons.
The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of those two instruments
and provide the ground for their further application. The project was performed
on behalf of the Ministry of the Environment from September 1996 to March 1997.
Publication:
- Jasch Ch., Hrauda G.; Einflüsse umweltbezogener Produktauszeichnungen
auf die umweltgerechte Produktgestaltung, Oktober 1997, Hrsg. Bundesministerium
für Umwelt, Jugend und Familie; erschienen als Schriftenreihe des BMUJF
Band 8/1997 und des IÖW SR23/97
Futher publications on this topic:
- Jasch Chr., Ökologisches Produktdesign. Buchbeitrag zum "Handbuch
Umweltcontrolling" herausgegeben vom Bundesumweltministerium und Umweltbundesamt
Deutschland, Franz Vahlen Verlag, München 1995
- Hopfenbeck W., Jasch Chr.: Öko-Design. Umweltorientierte Gestaltung
innovativer Produkte, Verlag Moderne Industrie, Landsberg/Lech, 1995
Links:
www.cfsd.org.uk
www.ecomarket.net
www.epsilon-ltd.co.uk
www.verbraucherrat.at