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The Impact of a Teracom Group
Product From a Life Cycle
Perspective
Jacob Södergren
Master of Science Thesis
Stockholm 2013
Jacob Södergren
Master of Science Thesis STOCKHOLM 2013
The Impact of a Teracom Group Product
From a Life Cycle Perspective
PRESENTED AT
INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Supervisor:
Anna Björklund, Environmental Strategies Research, KTH
Sofiia Miliutenko, Environmental Strategies Research, KTH
Stefan Nyberg, Teracom Group
Examiner:
Nils Brandt, Industrial Ecology, KTH
TRITA-IM 2013:01
Industrial Ecology,
Royal Institute of Technology
www.ima.kth.se
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Acknowledgements This thesis would have been difficult to conduct without the help and encouragement from many people along the course of the study. First of all, I would like to thank Teracom Group for making this master thesis possible, and in particular my supervisor Stefan Nyberg and the project team Maria Åstrand, Per Alksten and Cristina Klasson. By listening, giving valuable feedback and suggesting ideas and solutions, they have been a tremendous support. In addition, I would like to thank the group of very helpful co-‐workers at Teracom Group who in one way or another have helped me to obtain necessary knowledge and information. I would also like to thank Florian Tremblay at Sagemcom for providing crucial data. I am also very grateful to my supervisors at The Royal Institute of Technology, Anna Björklund and Sofiia Miliutenko, for their invaluable support, inspirational discussions and patience. A final thank you to my fellow students Gustav Bramberg, Anders Nilsson and Viktor Rasmanis for input and guidance during this study. Stockholm, January 2013 Jacob Södergren
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Abstract All kinds of products have economic, social and environmental impact throughout their entire life cycle. Today’s growing need for electronic devices contributes to the increasing problem within these fields. The aim of this study is to investigate and determine the impact of a chosen Teracom Group product from a sustainability perspective and to develop recommendations regarding how to proceed, in order to reduce the impact of products. This study is mainly focusing on the environmental aspect of the concept of sustainability. A life cycle assessment (LCA) of a set-‐top box (STB) is conducted based on chosen indicators by using the software SimaPro. The goal of the assessment is to identify the phases within the life cycle with largest environmental impact and contribute to Teracom Group’s further sustainable work. 18 impact categories are included to express emissions and use of natural resources. The result clearly shows that the production phase has the largest environmental impact within categories such as terrestrial acidification, human toxicity, freshwater ecotoxicity, marine ecotoxicity, urban land occupation and metal resource depletion. The use phase affects the environment foremost within climate change, ozone depletion, terrestrial ecotoxicity, ionising radiation, agricultural land use, natural land transformation and water depletion. Transports and the waste scenario only have a small effect on certain categories. The experiences of this study are discussed, demonstrating the difficulty in making an LCA in the position of being at the company purchasing products, not at the company manufacturing them. The company has previously not focused enough on sustainability regarding products. An LCA performed by the supplier would be more reliable due to a better possibility of collecting accurate data. Communication and cooperation between the company and its suppliers are key solutions. Higher requirements during procurement should be put on the products, including demands on performed LCAs with clearly described references and methods, critically review by a third party. Key words: Sustainability, life cycle assessment, set-‐top box
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Sammanfattning Alla typer av produkter har under sin livscykel en inverkan på såväl ekonomi och samhälle, som på de ekologiska system som finns omkring oss. Dagens växande behov av teknik och elektroniska produkter leder till ökade problem såsom utsläpp av växthusgaser, utnyttjande av markområden och konsumtion av energi. En global förändring av TV-‐teknologi och en ökad efterfrågan på bild-‐ och ljudkvalité i kombination med fler TV-‐kanaler, har lett till ett behov av digitalboxar världen över. Företaget Teracom Group sänder TV och radio via marknätet och erbjuder relaterade tjänster och konsumentprodukter. Målet med detta arbete är att undersöka och kartlägga en av Teracom Groups produkters påverkan ur ett hållbarhetsperspektiv, för att utifrån denna skapa rekommendationer för hur företaget i framtiden kan minska sina produkters påverkan. Konceptet hållbarhet saknar en vedertagen definition men beskrivs ofta som “utveckling som möter dagens behov utan att äventyra framtida generationers förmåga att möta sina behov”. Denna studie fokuserar dock på att undersöka miljöaspekten av hållbarhetskonceptets tre perspektiv. Målet uppnås genom att utföra en livscykelanalys (LCA) av en specifik produkt, utifrån valda indikatorer, med hjälp av en datorbaserad mjukvara. Faserna i livscykeln med störst miljöpåverkan identifieras och ligger som grund för diskussion kring framtida hållbarhetsarbete gällande företagets produkter. LCA:n genomförs, enligt Teracom Groups rekommendation, på företagets mest prioriterade digitalbox ur försäljningssynpunkt. Målet med LCA:n är att titta på produktens totala miljöpåverkan för att kunna bidra till Teracom Groups fortsatta hållbarhetsarbete. Mjukvaran SimaPro som används för denna studie är framtagen av ett schweiziskt företag och inkluderar den omfattande databasen Ecoinvent. Med denna metod skapas en modell av livscykeln på ett objektivt och systematisk sätt. Denna LCA inkluderar 18 olika kategorier av miljöpåverkan som beskriver utsläpp och användning av naturresurser. Resultatet av LCA:n visar fördelningen av miljöpåverkan mellan de olika faserna i livscykeln. Produktionsfasen har störst miljöpåverkan inom kategorier som markförsurning, humantoxicitet, sötvatten-‐ och havstoxicitet, urban markanvändning och utarmning av metallresurser. Användarfasen däremot har stor påverkan på miljön inom kategorier som klimatförändring, ozonuttunning, marktoxicitet, joniserande strålning, jordbruksmarksanvändning, förändring av naturlig mark och vattenutarmning. Transporter och avfallsscenariot påverkar emellertid minimalt. Denna studie indikerar att Teracom Group tidigare inte har fokuserat tillräckligt på hållbarhetsfrågor angående företagets produkter. Brister i detta projekt visar svårigheten i att genomföra en LCA på ett företag där tillverkning av produkter inte sker. Resultatet av denna studie bör enbart användas som indikation av produktens miljöpåverkan, men är dock ett bra första steg för hur produkter i framtiden ska hanteras inom Teracom Group. Högre krav bör ställas på leverantörer, där genomförd LCA, med tydligt beskriven metod inklusive referenser, samt granskad av extern part, ska ingå. Teracom Group har dessutom ett ansvar att sammanställa den nödvändiga information angående företagets egen verksamhet, som krävs för att en LCA ska kunna genomföras av leverantör.
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Table of Contents 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1
1.1 Aim and objectives ............................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Scope .................................................................................................................................... 2
1.3 Limitations ............................................................................................................................ 2
2 Theoretical background ............................................................................................................... 3 2.1 The concept of sustainability ................................................................................................ 3
2.1.1 Environmental system analysis tools ............................................................................. 3
2.1.2 Environmental product declaration ............................................................................... 3
2.1.3 Social life cycle assessment ........................................................................................... 4
2.2 Introduction of Teracom Group ............................................................................................ 5
2.3 Investigated supplier: Sagemcom ......................................................................................... 6
2.4 Chosen product for the life cycle assessment ...................................................................... 6 3 Methodology ............................................................................................................................... 8
3.1 Literature study .................................................................................................................... 8 3.2 Interviews ............................................................................................................................. 8
3.3 The process of a life cycle assessment ................................................................................. 8
3.4 SimaPro and Ecoinvent ......................................................................................................... 9
3.5 Impact categories ............................................................................................................... 10 3.6 Classification and characterisation ..................................................................................... 10
3.7 Normalisation ..................................................................................................................... 10
3.8 Life cycle interpretation ...................................................................................................... 11 4 Life cycle assessment of the chosen product ............................................................................ 12
4.1 Goal and scope ................................................................................................................... 12 4.1.1 Functional unit ............................................................................................................. 12 4.1.2 System boundaries ...................................................................................................... 12
4.1.3 Data quality .................................................................................................................. 13 4.1.4 Assumptions and limitations ....................................................................................... 14
4.2 Life cycle inventory analysis of the chosen product ........................................................... 14 4.2.1 Data collection ............................................................................................................. 14
4.2.2 Flowchart of the life cycle ............................................................................................ 16
4.3 Life cycle impact assessment of the chosen product ......................................................... 17 4.3.1 Impacts by characterisation ......................................................................................... 17
4.3.2 Impacts by normalisation ............................................................................................ 18
4.3.3 Climate change ............................................................................................................ 20
4.3.4 Freshwater eutrophication .......................................................................................... 21
4.3.5 Toxicity ......................................................................................................................... 22
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4.3.6 Metal depletion ........................................................................................................... 24
5 Discussion .................................................................................................................................. 25
5.1 Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 25
5.2 Result of the life cycle assessment ..................................................................................... 26 5.3 Lack of the social perspective ............................................................................................. 27
5.4 Further recommendations .................................................................................................. 27 6 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................ 29
References .................................................................................................................................... 30
Appendix I – Data regarding Sagemcom RTI90 320HD ..................................................................... i
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Abbreviations CBA Cost-‐Benefit Analysis CFC Chlorofluorocarbon CO2 eq Carbon dioxide equivalents GHG Greenhouse gas GWP Global warming potential IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ISO International Standard Organisation EIA Environmental Impact Assessment EIME Environmental Improvement Made Easy EPD Environmental Product Declaration ERA Ecological Risk Assessment ESAT Environmental System Analysis Tools EU European Union FE eq Iron equivalents GEDnet Global Type III Environmental Product Declarations Network LCA Life Cycle Assessment LCI Life Cycle Inventory LCIA Life Cycle Impact Assessment MFA Material Flow Analysis MMS Mediamätning i Skandinavien P eq Phosphorus equivalents ROHS Restriction of Hazardous Substances SLCA Social life cycle assessment STB Set-‐top box UN United Nations
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1 Introduction Today’s growing need for electronic devices contributes to the increasing problem of environmental impact due to factors such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, use of natural resources and a higher demand for energy, just to mention a few. The life cycle of a product often consists of very complex systems and the overall impact can therefore be difficult to evaluate. All kinds of products have economic, social and environmental impact throughout the entire life cycle, from cradle to grave. The sustainability of products are therefore of greatest importance. Sustainability is normally described as a way to fulfil today’s needs, without compromising the needs of future generations (WWF, 2008). Due to the fact that companies are some of the largest consumers of the world’s resources, and competition between companies is constantly growing, efficient use of these resources has become an important driving force (WWF, 2012). Since the concept of sustainability was introduced and widely spread in the late eighties, business strategies have developed towards not being limited to only financial objectives (WWF, 2008). Due to global change of TV-‐technology such as increased resolution and sound quality, in combination with public demand of additional TV-‐channels, there was a need for the Swedish analogue terrestrial network to be transformed into a digital one, a process that started in 2005 (SVT, 2006). To be able to convert today’s digital signals and make those understandable for a TV-‐set, a digital receiver is needed (Boxer, 2012a). The countries within the European Union (EU) have agreed on a completed transition to digital networks by no later than 2015. This means that the amount of digital receivers have strongly increased and will continue to do so, adding to higher energy consumption, among other sustainability related consequences (Energimyndigheten, 2012). The business idea of Teracom Group is to “offer TV and radio via terrestrial networks along with supporting Telecom services”. The company broadcasts TV and sells customer product equipment in three markets in the Nordic region. The sustainability of the products and services is of great importance since they symbolise what the company stands for. The owner demands of the company to “be at the forefront regarding financial, social and environmental impact”. A critical challenge is to understand how future development of products and services can minimize negative effects in terms of sustainability, and furthermore how to communicate this profile to employees, customers, suppliers etc. in order to achieve a “sustainable” image. (Åstrand, 2012)
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1.1 Aim and objectives The aim of this study is to investigate and determine the potential effect of a chosen Teracom Group product from a sustainability perspective and to develop recommendations to the company regarding how to proceed in order to reduce the impact of the products purchased and sold. The following objectives are created to fulfil the aim and form the base for the discussion:
-‐ Explain the concept of sustainability, including environmental system analysis tools (ESAT) and a standardised product declaration
-‐ Perform a life cycle assessment (LCA) of a specific product based on chosen indicators by using an LCA software
-‐ Identify the phases within the life cycle that contribute the most (according to chosen impact categories) to the environmental impact
-‐ Discuss how to proceed with the products’ future sustainability work 1.2 Scope This report highlights the most significant, overall environmental impact during each phase of a product’s life cycle, rather than point out detailed issues. To be able to perform the LCA itself, several boundaries have been set, which can be found under chapter 4 Life cycle assessment of chosen product. 1.3 Limitations The main limitation for this project is the relatively short period of time in which to conduct the study. Since only 20 weeks are available to plan, perform, compile and present this investigation, not all of the aspects regarding the aim are taken into account. This study is mainly focusing on, but not totally limited to the environmental aspect of the three sustainability perspectives; financial, social and environmental. Studies of the social impact would require specific information such as working conditions etc., which would be difficult to obtain from the Teracom Group external suppliers and their sub suppliers. Previous studies regarding social sustainability have only been made to a small extent, leading to lack of scientific research in the area (Ekener-‐Petersen & Finnveden, 2012). The fact that the concept of sustainable development is very complex (and therefore contains some uncertainties), in combination with lack of previous studies (which means absence of data), might affect the result of this study and not give complete answers. This issue is handled in the discussion. Some information is difficult to obtain due to the fact that Teracom Group buys products from suppliers (with their own sub suppliers), have a fairly new distribution partner, works with different retailers etc. In addition to this, the needed information is often confidential, making it even more difficult to collect and use. In cases where reliable data cannot be obtained, assumptions and official statistics are used. Some of the obtained information is however still of confidential nature and cannot be presented in this report. This data is put in a confidential document, which will not be attached to this report. Another limiting factor is the lack of a specific budget for this study. This means that for instance customer surveys giving information on for instance customer TV habits cannot be done. An additional limiting factor is the lack of knowledge on how customers handle their products and what the actual disposal scenario looks like.
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2 Theoretical background This chapter gives the necessary background information regarding the expression “sustainability”, the investigated company, its supplier and the chosen product. 2.1 The concept of sustainability The concept of sustainable development has been widely spread since the middle of the 1980’s. The definition is constantly being discussed and there is still not an accepted, concrete definition. Sustainability was early described as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” according to the report “Our Common Future” by the World Commission on Environment and Development (1987). This means that sustainable development is a way to reach human wellbeing, including a positive economic development without affecting ecological systems. For products, sustainability is all about minimizing environmental impacts during their total life cycle, and simultaneously decreasing cost and impact on human health and other social related issues. (Hållbarhetsguiden, 2012) Today several labels for environmental friendly products exist. The Ecolabel Index is according to the organisation itself, the world’s largest directory of Eco labels, keeping an eye on over 400 different environmental related labels in almost 200 countries. (Ecolabel Index, 2012)
2.1.1 Environmental system analysis tools When investigating and evaluating a product’s total environmental impact, a variety of tools with diverse characteristics, can be used. A few worth mentioning, with focus on physical factors, are Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) and Material Flow Analysis (MFA). To investigate financial related impacts, a Cost-‐Benefit Analysis (CBA) focusing on the economic aspects is an option. An LCA on the other hand aims at investigating the environmental impact related to every phase within the life of a product – from cradle to grave. The assessment normally includes aspects such as resource extraction, development, production, use and eventually disposal of the product. Transports needed between different stages should also be included to give a comprehensive picture. (Baumann & Tillman, 2004) Further information regarding LCAs can be found in chapter 3 Methodology.
2.1.2 Environmental product declaration The international Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) system uses LCA as a tool in order to allow companies to present product and service information regarding environmental impact, in an objective way. Thanks to standardised methods, EPDs are comparable for similar products in terms of environmental impact. When finalised, the EPD is viewed and approved by external certifying organisation, and then published into the international system. This gives EPDs high quality and credibility making them useful for sustainable procurement of products. The features within the declaration include the following areas; objectivity, neutrality, comparability, summary, quality assurance and environmental impact. (Miljöstyrningsrådet, 2012) The Swedish Environmental Management Council is responsible for the system to work according to the International Standard Organisation (ISO) standard 14025 (EPD, 2012). The information presented in the declaration includes all relevant environmental impact categories. There are also single-‐issue EPDs focusing on a certain impact category in hope of simplifying the result and better fit a certain situation. A good example of this is a climate change EPD with the purpose to express the environmental impact as carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2 eq). (EPD, 2012b)
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An EPD is an effective tool for communication of sustainable development and is created by carrying out several steps (EPD, 2012c):
-‐ Product category rules must be generated to facilitate global communication and comparability.
-‐ Collection of data is needed to perform an LCA according to the ISO standard 14040. -‐ Compilation of other important environmental information, which also can be a part of
the EPD. -‐ Verification of the collection and handling of information and the EPD itself, leading
towards reliability and trustworthiness. -‐ The approved EPD is registered and published in the system.
The approved EPD should include the following compiled information (Baumann & Tillman, 2004):
-‐ A description of the company and the declared product -‐ Environmental performance declaration including the result of the LCA, which should be
divided into production phase (cradle-‐to-‐gate) and use phase (gate-‐to-‐grave) -‐ Additional information such as recycling scenario and if environmental, health or safety
requirements are fulfilled -‐ Approved certificate including validity time and registration number
The International EPD system is a member of the Global Type III Environmental Product Declarations Network (GEDnet), an international non-‐profit organisation aiming at simplifying the ability to exchange environmental information worldwide. (GEDnet, 2012)
2.1.3 Social life cycle assessment Even if the social aspect of the sustainability concept is as important as the other perspectives, a social life cycle assessment (SLCA) is for fairly obvious reasons more difficult to conduct. Quantitative indicators within an environmental based LCA, such as emissions, can easily be calculated with the right kind of input data. The way a factory might affect its workers or the near society is far more challenging to examine. A subjective analysis becomes necessary in most cases to understand the meaning of a certain impact indicator. Salary is a good example, which can even be measured; but the social impact depends on that specific salary in relation to the particular situation of the company, society or location. (Ekener-‐Petersen & Finnveden, 2012) Due to aforementioned factors, an SLCA is often even more time consuming, and therefore more expensive to conduct than a normal LCA. In addition, the assessment is normally far more subjective. The fact that boundaries to other systems are harder to differentiate makes an SLCA dependent on expert knowledge within the field. However, when the SLCA is performed, the result will hopefully give a good indication on social aspects such as if the life cycle follows human rights, have deficiencies in health and safety for employees and the work conditions, at any phase include child labour etc. (United Nations Environmental Programme, 2009) An SLCA called “Potential Hotspots Identified by Social LCA: a Case Study of a Laptop Computer”, was recently performed by Ekener-‐Petersen & Finnveden (2012). The life cycle of a laptop was investigated from a social impact perspective, which roughly can be described as examination of the involved countries, including national situations, behind each of the life cycle phases. The goal was to discover hotspots with the largest social impact and in which country these most likely would occur. The result of the study showed for instance that workers and the local community are at greatest risk. Lack of site-‐specific data lead to uncertainties in the result and
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future SCLA would benefit from accurate data from the correct sector, or even more preferable from the precise site. (Ekener-‐Petersen & Finnveden, 2012) With this in mind, it would not make sense to spend time and effort on including social aspects in this LCA. 2.2 Introduction of Teracom Group Teracom Group is a Swedish company owned by the state with business in Sweden, Denmark and Finland. The company provides technical communication and network solutions within the area of radio and TV broadcasting, pay-‐TV, transmission capacity for data connections as well as co-‐location and service. Swedish Teracom AB and Danish Teracom A/S own and run the terrestrial network in Sweden and Denmark. (Teracom, 2012a) Teracom Group consists furthermore of Boxer TV-‐access AB, which operates and sells pay-‐TV program packages in the Swedish digital terrestrial network along with broadband and telephone services, Boxer TV A/S which offers digital pay-‐TV in Denmark for the terrestrial network and finally Digi TV Plus Oy which runs similar activities in the Finnish digital terrestrial network. (Teracom, 2102b) The Teracom Group sustainability work has become very important over recent years due to a strong development of the company to be competitive, but also as a consequence of pressure from the owner as well as international institutions such as the EU. The sustainable development has been divided into, and communicated as, three areas – society, environment and economy. The work was initiated 2008 by identification of the company’s stakeholders including owner, clients, employees, suppliers, partners, media, agencies and the public. All areas of the company’s activities, such as plants, grids and offices, are continuously evaluated to examine environmental impacts so that these can be improved. The largest impact arises from use of fuel and energy. GHG emissions occurring from these energy sources are officially presented as CO2 eq to facilitate communication within and outside the company. One of Teracom Group’s environmental goals quantifies a reduction of GHG emissions by 3% annually. This should be done by efficiency of operations, where renewable energy and greener technologies are examples. (Teracom Group, 2012) In the process of purchasing STBs, Boxer puts great emphasis in choosing suppliers, which have clear strategies regarding sustainability. In addition, the suppliers are chosen depending on their ability to supply products offering functionalities according to Boxer’s requirements and customers’ demand. Teracom Group’s environmental manager conducts an investigation of the suppliers before purchasing, to ensure that Teracom Group’s sustainability policy is fulfilled. Boxer reserves the right to control the suppliers by demanding the latest sustainability report or other document showing their sustainable development. In addition to this, suppliers must explain how they work to meet the ten principles regarding human rights, labour, environment and anti-‐corruption within the United Nations (UN) Global Compact. Boxer furthermore demands their suppliers to share valid ISO14001 certificate or other description of environmental management and valid ISO9001 certificate or other description of quality management. Today, the STBs are purchased from three suppliers – Humax, Pace and Sagemcom. (Jimyr, 2012) During the latest 12 months, Boxer sold more than 49 000 Set-‐top boxes (STB) (excluding ones sold by retailers). To illustrate this tremendous amount, these would equal, if put on each other, the same height as approximately 20 Kaknästornet (Teracom’s radio and TV tower in Stockholm, with a height of 155 m). (Ekman, 2012)
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2.3 Investigated supplier: Sagemcom Sagemcom is a French high technology company producing, among many other products, the STB investigated in this study. The company claims having a clear policy regarding sustainable development including areas such as sites environment, ethical approach and occupational health and safety. Sagemcom constantly tries to minimize the impact of their products by for instance using recyclable materials. “Eco Design” is used when developing products and means, according to Sagemcom, to make choices that minimise the effects on the environment during products’ life cycles. In other words, Sagemcom puts great effort in producing better products, focusing on minimizing use of raw materials and energy consumption. The company further states that LCA is used as a tool to investigate how the products affect the environment. However, these reports are not yet officially published for other companies, such as Teracom Group. (Sagemcom, 2012a) When conducting LCAs, Sagemcom uses a simplified life cycle assessment tool created by companies within the electronics industry. The tool, called Environmental Improvement Made Easy (EIME), includes a database, which covers statistical data of environmental impact, such as water pollution, GHG emissions etc. (Sagemcom, 2012b) EIME also includes functions for Eco Design and Environmental Labelling. The software is created to simplify use for different kinds companies. (Bureau Veritas CODDE, 2012) Regarding disposal and waste management, Sagemcom complies with the European Directive 2002/96/EC (Official Journal of the European Union, 2003), which means that the company is responsible for the recycling of all electric and electronic products. The company furthermore invites their customers to refurbish the products so that they can be reused. This means functional test, cosmetic reparation, new packaging etc. To minimize the environmental impact from packaging the products, Sagemcom follows the European Directive 94/62/EC (Official Journal of the European Union, 1994) demanding exclusion of heavy metals, minimizing use of raw materials and clarifying composition to ease recycling. (Sagemcom 2012c) 2.4 Chosen product for the life cycle assessment Teracom Group suggested performing an LCA of the company’s most prioritised STB. The chosen product for this study is thus Sagemcom RTI90 320HD (figure 1) – a STB with a hard drive and two TV tuners which makes it possible to record and save two different programs while watching a third. (Boxer, 2012b) The box is delivered with a power cable, remote control (including batteries), an HDMI cable and a manual (Sagemcom, 2012d).
Figure 1. Sagemcom RTI90 320HD.
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The STB is manufactured in Sagemcom’s factory situated in Tunisia. Most of the components (approximately 95%) are imported from sub suppliers located in different areas of China. (Tremblay, 2012a) Teracom Group’s distribution partner Electra, who in turn uses the services of the Swedish postal company Posten, delivers the products to the Swedish Boxer customers. (Ekman, 2012) CE-‐labelling certifies that the product is approved by EU directives regarding radio and telecommunication (1999/5/EC), safety (2006/95/EC), electromagnetic compatibility (2004/108/EC) and Eco design (ErP 2009/125/EC). This means that the STB is constructed to ensure the safety and health of the user as well as minimize the environmental impact. (Sagemcom, 2012d) The product is furthermore manufactured with recyclable materials such as certain plastics, making the disposal phase highly important. According to the European Directive WEEE (Official Journal of the European Union, 2003), the retailer must collect used boxes for disposal without additional charges. The STB including supplied batteries are free from hazardous materials such as lead, mercury and cadmium, in accordance to the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (ROHS) directive. (Sagemcom, 2012d) After the product’s lifetime, the customer is expected to leave it at one of the many recycling centres. Teracom Group pays a fee to the electronic recycling company El-‐Kretsen, which is responsible for taking care of the product, together with other kind of electric and electronic waste. The STBs are sorted and handled together as “various electronics” together with other similar products such as kitchen equipment, TVs, cell phones, computers etc. This group accounts for more than half of all the electronics collected and most of the products are treated with the same techniques. Products containing PCB have to be dismantled before metal parts can be recycled. The metals such as copper, aluminium and iron are melted and can be used as raw materials for new products. Plastics and glass can be recycled as well, and the rest of the materials such as fabric, wood and non-‐recyclable plastics are incinerated where the energy is used for heat or electricity. The batteries in the remote control are also recycled, normally by melting of the metals and distillation of the chemicals. (El-‐Kretsen, 2012)
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3 Methodology This chapter describes the methodology used when performing this project and covers literature study, interviews, and the process of LCA and software used. 3.1 Literature study To obtain deep background information regarding the topic, a wide literature study has been performed exploring former scientific research within the area of electronic devices and sustainability with focus on environmental aspects including life cycle assessment. This information was in the form of annual reports, Webpages, articles etc. As far as possible, current literature was used. 3.2 Interviews To understand activities, different processes and to obtain certain data, interviews have been executed with various people within the company. A small group of people including a supervisor has continuously discussed and evaluated the on-‐going work. Information has also been collected through cooperation with suppliers and other companies such as Teracom Group’s logistics partner Electra and the Swedish postal office Posten. To collect the correct kind of data regarding the chosen STB, interviews have been performed with Sagemcom’s Environmental Expert. 3.3 The process of a life cycle assessment The ISO has created several standards and guidelines to perform an LCA where the main one is called ISO14040 and describes the tool as follows (Baumann & Tillman, 2004): “LCA is a technique for assessing the environmental aspects and potential impacts associated with a product by:
• compiling an inventory of relevant inputs and outputs of a product system; • evaluating the potential environmental impacts associated with those inputs and
outputs; • interpreting the results of the inventory analysis and impact assessment phases in
relation to the objectives of the study” The standard further states that use of resources, human health, and ecological effects are the three main impact areas that need to be taken into account when performing an LCA. (Baumann & Tillman, 2004) The LCA should preferably be divided into three different phases (figure 2) where the first one consists of goal and scope definition. In this step the product is chosen and the purpose of the study is described. The first step should also clarify how the result will be used, the reason for this and to whom and how the result will be communicated. To be able to perform the LCA, it is also important to create a more specific question. The function of a product system, the “functional unit”, needs to be determined in quantitative terms, so that it can be connected to the environmental impact it has. There are several factors that need to be set as a first step; system boundaries, description of the included processes, environmental impacts (such as resource use, global warming, acidification, eutrophication etc.) and the level of details in the collected data. (Baumann & Tillman, 2004)
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The second step of an LCA consists of making a life cycle inventory analysis (LCI), which means a model of the product process showing the flows of mass and energy that will have environmental impact. The model can be created as a flowchart showing all steps of the system including production, transportation, use and disposal, and the interaction between them. The inventory analysis should additionally include collection of data as input and output in the process, such as raw materials, energy sources, products, waste and emissions. The final part in this second step should be a calculation of used resources and created emission per functional unit. (Baumann & Tillman, 2004) The inventory analysis is followed by a life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) with the purpose of describing the potential environmental impact as effects of the emission and the resource use, presented in the previous step. This means to sort out and classify the parameters related to their environmental impact. The impact is then further grouped by character, meaning for instance that all kinds of GHG emissions will contribute to global warming and can therefore be seen as one indicator. Aggregating impact is normally not possible without adding values and qualitative perspectives formed by humans. (Baumann & Tillman, 2004)
Figure 2. Relationship between the steps in an LCA and interpretation of these. Since technical systems described in the inventory analysis do not exist without involvement of human beings and social systems, it is necessary to consider and take those into account as well. The same applies for environmental systems, due to the fact that natural resources are used and emissions created and released back to nature, within the technical system. Together, these three systems form the base of the LCA. (Baumann & Tillman, 2004) 3.4 SimaPro and Ecoinvent The software used for conducting this study is a Swiss, computer based LCA tool called SimaPro, which gives the opportunity to create models of the life cycle in a transparent, systematic way. The software is integrated with a comprehensive database called Ecoinvent including a wide international scope. (PRé, 2012) The database with more than 4,000 datasets in various market categories, such as metals processing, packaging materials, information and communication technology and electronics, is based on real industrial data, created by LCA consultants in corporation with large international research institutes. (Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, 2012)
Goal and scope definition
Impact assessment
Inventory analysis Interpretation
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3.5 Impact categories The impact categories for this study were obtained by using an LCA methodology called ReCiPe 2008. The method was chosen to express emissions and use of natural resources as impact category indicators at midpoint level. This can be described as direct environmental impacts such as climate change, ecotoxicity and acidification, in contrast to endpoint level where damage to human health and ecosystems are described. The method consists of 18 impact categories, which can be found in table 1. (ReCiPe, 2012)
Table 1. ReCiPe 2008 Impact categories.
Impact category Unit Climate change kg CO2 eq Ozone depletion kg CFC-‐11 eq Human toxicity kg 1,4-‐DB eq Photochemical oxidant formation kg NMVOC Particulate matter formation kg PM10 eq Ionising radiation kg U235 eq Terrestrial acidification kg SO2 eq Freshwater eutrophication kg P eq Marine eutrophication kg N eq Terrestrial ecotoxicity kg 1,4-‐DB eq Freshwater ecotoxicity kg 1,4-‐DB eq Marine ecotoxicity kg 1,4-‐DB eq Agricultural land occupation m2a Urban land occupation m2a Natural land transformation m2 Water depletion m3 Metal depletion kg Fe eq Fossil depletion kg oil eq
Only a few of the impact categories are further prioritised for this study, due to the fact that the aim of this LCA is to use the result as an indicator on potential environmental impacts for further discussion, making a complete analysis unnecessary. 3.6 Classification and characterisation Classification means that certain environmental loads within the LCI are assigned to the relevant impact category, which requires knowledge on how different resources and emissions affect the environment. Characterisation on the other hand means calculating the sizes of the environmental impacts by creating a characterisation factor for each of them. (Baumann & Tillman, 2004) The advantage of using ReCiPe as methodology for impact assessment is that classification and characterisation are already included. 3.7 Normalisation In order to understand the characterisation result and define the size of it in relation to the actual situation of today’s environmental impact, normalisation becomes an important step. It is a way to compare the value of a certain impact category to the total average impact per person and year within the same category, regionally, nationally or globally. (Baumann & Tillman, 2004)
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Normalisation is used in this study, in relation to a European average from 2000, to obtain a picture of the impact categories with the largest effects on the environment. 3.8 Life cycle interpretation Within the final phase of the LCA, the goal and scope definition is combined with the results of the LCI and the LCIA to make possible the interpretation of the results. Based on the result, conclusions regarding the investigated product’s environmental impact can be drawn. The result is normally illustrated by different kinds of diagrams.
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4 Life cycle assessment of the chosen product This chapter contains the usual steps within an LCA according to the aforementioned methodology of the tool, including goal and scope definition, life cycle inventory analysis and life cycle impact assessment including interpretation. 4.1 Goal and scope The goal of this LCA is to explore the STB’s overall potential environmental impact in order to contribute to Teracom Group’s further sustainable work. The result will be used to communicate this development within the company and form a base for further recommendations regarding future purchase of products.
4.1.1 Functional unit The chosen product, which also represents the functional unit for the LCA, is as previously mentioned one (1) STB from Sagemcom with model number RTI90 320HD. The product itself including supplied accessories such as cables, remote control with batteries, the manual and the package are all included. The total weight of the packages delivered to final customers is 1.776 kg. The lifetime of the product is assumed to be 5 years. Additional information regarding functionalities and power consumption can be found in chapter 2.4 Chosen product for the life cycle assessment, and in appendix I – Data regarding Sagemcom RTI90 320HD.
4.1.2 System boundaries The life cycle of the chosen products begins with resource extraction from nature, to obtain all materials needed for the production. The resource extraction can be described as the cradle of the product and will only occur at the very beginning. The life cycle ends when the materials are returned to nature as emissions or end up at landfills. Since emissions will occur during the whole life cycle, it is harder to specify the grave. The system boundaries are further illustrated in a flowchart (figure 6) under 4.2.2 Flowchart of the life cycle. Different geographical system boundaries will affect different phases of the product’s life cycle. The resource extraction will most likely occur all over the world making boundaries hard to predict. Most of the components manufacturer are however limited to China. The assembly process of those components takes place in Tunisia and the products are sold only within the Swedish market. The transports between these locations affect globally. The time horizon stretches from use of raw materials (involving resource extraction) to the waste scenario, including production and use. The data and the situation will represent current time meaning that future development and changes will not be considered. The technical system consists of all the human processes, from when natural resources are extracted until these are released back as emissions to nature or as waste to landfill. The LCA is limited by investigating only the resource extraction and assembly process of the production phase. This involves imported components including all materials and energy (electricity), water and nitrogen used during the assembly of these. Due to difficulties in examining sub suppliers, the processes of components manufacturing and systems linked with these are not included. Boundaries regarding transports (figure 3, where truck transports are indicated by green and ship transports are indicated by blue) within the life cycle include transports from Chinese components manufacturers throughout the chain, ending at the local postal offices in Sweden. The components are transported from the factories to a Chinese harbour by truck (right hand green circle in figure 3). From there the parts are shipped (blue line in figure 3) to the assembly
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factory in Tunisia. The final products are then transported to France by ship (blue line in figure 3) over the Mediterranean Sea. Trucks are used to transport the products through Europe (green line in figure 3) to Boxer’s Swedish warehouse located in Kalmar. (Tremblay, 2012b) The products are distributed to the local postal offices by truck (left hand green circle in figure 3). Additional transports such as from the postal offices to final customer and to recycling centres etc. will not be included due to the relative short distances and lack of statistics regarding these kinds of transports. Furthermore, transports of disposed products to recycling plants, landfills etc. was excluded for the same reason. Distances used for the LCA can be found in appendix I.
Figure 3. Transport chain of the STB. The study is further limited to the Swedish market, including statistics and other data regarding households, energy mix, waste scenario etc. The examined STB is sold not only by Boxer, but also by other retailers, both in shops and online. These will not be included in the LCA. Capital goods such as factory, office buildings and machinery used to produce the product will not be included in this LCA since these types of tools last for, and produce far more than 1 STB. The personnel and their potential impact on the life cycle for all involved companies and factories will not be taken into account. Other related services such as maintenance and reparation of the products will also be excluded.
4.1.3 Data quality The foreground system of this LCA includes the aforementioned specific data, including for instance assembly, transports and the use of the STB. For the background system, including areas such as processing of materials, production of fuel etc., generic values are used in the Ecoinvent database. Most of the collected information, such as quantity of materials within the
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product and transport distances, is obtained directly from Sagemcom. This means site-‐specific values, which should generate a more accurate result. Due to this, the objectivity of the data can be questioned, which will be handled in the discussion. Other information, such as statistics regarding TV habits and the Tunisian energy mix are as current as possible. Some data is however less certain since updated, reliable values were difficult to obtain. Examples of this are distances from the Swedish warehouse in Kalmar to the final customers and exact vehicles used for different transports.
4.1.4 Assumptions and limitations Due to the life cycle’s complexity and therefore lack of certain data, some assumptions are made. The list of materials obtained from Sagemcom, included several materials that could not be found in SimaPro. This was especially apparent regarding inorganic chemicals, and quite a few of them were instead substituted to a “global average of inorganic chemicals at plant” using the same quantity. A few other materials that could not be found in SimaPro were just listed by their weight, without additional impact data. This substitution is further shown in detail in the confidential material list. The usage phase of the STB is estimated to be five years. It is assumed that, during this period of time, the product is never completely turned off. It is further assumed that the STB is left at a recycle centre after its lifetime. Data regarding the vehicles used for transports is based on assumptions and chosen vehicles in the SimaPro software can be found in appendix I. 4.2 Life cycle inventory analysis of the chosen product The following chapter provides information regarding data collection for the LCA, a flowchart of the life cycle including main phases and the system boundary.
4.2.1 Data collection The materials used (and their weight) for the STB have been obtained from Sagemcom through email correspondence with environmental expert Florian Tremblay. These were given in kg per product and can be found in a confidential material list. The list contains all materials for the STB itself, as well as the accessories previously described. Materials used for packaging and for the wood pallet were also included. The allocation of used materials divided into several material groups are shown in figure 4. The energy consumption (electricity) and use of other resources (water and nitrogen) during the assembly phase were also obtained from Sagemcom and given in amount per product and can be found in the confidential material list.
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Figure 4. Share of used materials divided into material groups. The Tunisian energy mix was created in SimaPro and used for electricity consumption during the assembly phase of the components. The energy mix (shown in figure 5) was, according to official data of 2009, produced by oil (9.2%), gas (89.7%), hydro (0.5%) and wind (0.6%) power (International Energy Agency, 2011a). The electricity consumed by final customer during the use phase was on the other hand Swedish energy mix, which can be found directly in the Ecoinvent database, with values equivalent to the current Swedish situation. According to official data of 2009, the Swedish energy mix was produced by coal and peat (1,2%), oil (0,5%), gas (1,1%), biofuels (7,6%), waste (1,3%), nuclear (38,2%) hydro (48,3%) and wind (1,8%) (International Energy Agency, 2011b).
Figure 5. Tunisian energy mix.
Transport distances, given in km, from the Chinese sub suppliers all the way to the Swedish warehouse, via the assembly factory in Tunisia were received from Sagemcom. The total
glass and ceramics
inorganic chemicals
metals and semimetals
organic chemicals
unspecified materials
other mineralic materials
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distance is approximately 22 775 km. An average distance from the Swedish warehouse to the final customer was obtained by investigating the distance from the warehouse to about 800 Swedish customers who purchased the chosen STB during September 2012. This distance was calculated to 394 km. According to Posten, the STBs are delivered by trucks. Data regarding TV watching habits in Sweden was obtained from Mediamätning i Skandinavien (MMS), a Swedish company owned by several companies within the broadcasting industry. According to MMS (2011), the average time for watching TV in Sweden is 162 minutes per person per day. The STB is in “on mode” an additional 180 minutes before it automatically goes to “standby mode” (Alksten, 2012). The energy consumption is, according to Sagemcom, 13.335W during “on mode” and 1.479W during “standby mode”. Calculations regarding total energy consumption (based on use by one person) can be found in appendix I. The method for waste scenario used in this study is called cut-‐off approach and means that recycled materials will have a positive effect only when used in another life cycle, since primary resource extraction and material production then can be excluded. (Frishknecht, 2009) This means that the waste scenario will have a very low impact on the result of this study. The waste scenario is however modelled in SimaPro, which in a first step sorts out 100% of the cardboard, paper and water used within the life cycle, since these most likely are recycled even before the waste scenario. Due to the fact that a cut-‐off approach is used, this step consists of “empty” recycling processes without data contributing to the result of the LCA. The same applies for the second step, where the STB itself is disposed according to the European WEEE directive. The remaining materials in the confidential material list (probably processing means for assembly of the STB) go to a generic landfill process, with emissions contributing to the result of the LCA.
4.2.2 Flowchart of the life cycle The flowchart shown in figure 6 illustrates the life cycle of the chosen STB, where the grey boxes symbolise the phases within the life cycle of the STB. The red boxes show different inputs of resources to the system and the blue boxes symbolise emissions. The orange box represents components manufacturers, which are not included. The system boundary is illustrated by the dashed square framing the life cycle.
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Figure 6. Flowchart of the life cycle.
4.3 Life cycle impact assessment of the chosen product The main result of the LCA is first of all illustrated as a characterisation diagram, including each of the characterisation factors. A normalisation diagram showing the most significant impact categories in relation to the average European values are then presented. These categories will together with climate change, which appears to be prioritised by Teracom Group, be further presented and interpreted. The four main phases within the life cycle – production, use, transports and waste scenario – form the base of each diagram, giving an opportunity to compare the impacts of these phases. It is of greatest importance to remember that the values in these diagrams should not be seen as exact and completely reliable. They will only be used as indicators as a basis for discussion.
4.3.1 Impacts by characterisation The overall results of the LCA are shown in figure 7, where all 18 impact categories are illustrated as columns in the diagram. Each column is divided into four colours symbolising the percentage of production, use, transports and waste scenario. The diagram gives an overall picture showing the allocation of environmental impact between the main phases within the life cycle of the product. The production phase (represented by blue) and the usage phase (represented by red) evidently stand for the main impact, while transports (represented by green) only have a small effect on certain categories. The waste scenario (represented by purple), has the least environmental impact during the life cycle. Therefore, the analysis focuses on the two phases with largest impact.
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Figure 7. Impact by characterisation.
The diagram in figure 7 clearly shows that the production phase has the largest environmental impact within categories such as terrestrial acidification, human toxicity, freshwater ecotoxicity, marine ecotoxicity, urban land occupation and metal resource depletion. The use phase on the other hand affects the environment foremost within climate change, ozone depletion, terrestrial ecotoxicity, ionising radiation, agricultural land use, natural land transformation and water depletion. The diagram only compares the relationship between the four main phases within each impact category. However, the diagram does not show the total impact of each category, nor does it show the relation between the categories regarding environmental impact. This means that one impact category can have a significantly larger effect on the environment, than the other. To be able to further analyse the total impact, and relate it to average values, the process of normalisation becomes necessary.
4.3.2 Impacts by normalisation The normalisation diagram, including all of the impact categories, can be found in figure 8 and shows that freshwater eutrophication, human toxicity, freshwater ecotoxicity and marine ecotoxicity are the four impact categories with highest values in relation to the European average. These will therefore further be investigated together with climate change and mineral depletion, since Teracom Group prioritises these categories. Despite this, the chosen impact categories show huge differences in environmental impact depending on how the result is interpreted. All results within the normalisation diagram can be seen as fairly low, due to the fact that the values are compared to an annual, European average per person (from year 2000). It is still of greatest importance to keep in mind that normalisation only can be used as a rough indication. Firstly, the method of calculating annual, average European values is not investigated. Secondly, all the materials within the material list obtained from Sagemcom cannot be found in the Ecoinvent database. Thirdly, the result of the normalisation diagram
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does not illustrate which of the impact categories are worse than others, only that they are higher in relation to an average value with units totally unrelated to each other.
Figure 8. Impact by normalisation.
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4.3.3 Climate change Not only CO2 emissions affect the climate by absorbing infrared radiation, thus heating the atmosphere. Other GHGs such as methane and chlorofluorcarbon (CFC) absorb the radiation even more effectively. The ReCiPe midpoint methodology is based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) CO2 equivalents factor. This global warming potential (GWP) is a characterisation factor expressing the effect of GHGs. It can be explained as the relation between increased infrared absorption caused by a certain gas in relation to the infrared absorption caused by 1 kg of CO2. (Baumann & Tillman, 2004, ReCiPe, 2012) Looking at climate change (figure 9), the total amount of CO2 eq, caused by the life cycle of the chosen STB, is approximately 26 kg. The use phase has the largest environmental impact with approximately 16 kg CO2 eq during the 5-‐year period representing the lifetime. This amount corresponds to 64% of the total amount of CO2 eq and derives exclusively from the production and use of Swedish electricity. The production phase on the other hand has a less impact on climate change with approximately 7 kg CO2 eq or 27%, foremost due to the production and use of Tunisian electricity as well as the production and use of heavy metals, since GHG emissions related fuels such as oil and gas are used for these processes.
Figure 9. Climate Change.
To illustrate previously mentioned values, the amount of CO2 eq can be put in the context of food consumption in Sweden, which appears to be a common debate regarding climate change. In Sweden, food consumption by one person per year equals about 2 tons of GHG emissions. According to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (2011), meat has the largest single impact within this category standing for about 700 kg CO2 eq per person per year (in 2005). The comparison shows that the climate change as a consequence of using a STB over 5 years is fairly low. The amount of STB sold annually is still high and have a significant impact.
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4.3.4 Freshwater eutrophication Eutrophication is normally described as an increased amount of nutrients into the environment leading to higher productivity within affected ecological systems. Degradable organic pollutants and sometime also waste heat are normally included in this impact category due to their ability to affect the biological composition. Together, these effects lead to increased consumption of oxygen. Nitrogen and phosphorus are the two most common substances within this category and the impact is therefore measures in phosphorus equivalents (P eq). (Baumann & Tillman, 2004, ReCiPe, 2012) Figure 10 shows the amount of released P eq during the life cycle of the STB. The Production phase stands for the highest amount, equalling approximately 0.04 kg P eq or 83% of the total amount. As previously seen in the case of climate change, this depends on the use of heavy metals such brass, silver and gold, since the production process of these leads to emissions of phosphorus and nitrogen. The use phase on the other hand corresponds to about 0.008 kg P eq or 16% of the eutrophication, due to the production and use of Swedish electricity.
Figure 10. Freshwater Eutrophication.
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4.3.5 Toxicity Toxicity is a complicated impact category due to the fact that it includes many different substances, such as heavy metals or pesticides, with a variety of environmental impacts. The toxicity category is normally divided into human toxicity and ecotoxicity, which can in turn be further divided into sub categories such as terrestrial and aquatic toxicity. (Baumann & Tillman, 2004) Environmental persistence, accumulation in the food chain and toxicity of a certain substance compose the characterisation factor of human toxicity. The ReCiPe midpoint methodology uses the chemical 1,4-‐dichlorobenzene as a reference value for this impact category. (ReCiPe, 2012) Values are calculated as amount in kg released to urban air. As shown in figure 11, the production phase has the largest impact on human toxicity, corresponding to approximately 68 kg 1,4-‐DB eq or 83% of the total impact. Brass, silver and gold used during the production phase contribute the most, due to the fact that the production of these materials leads to emissions of heavy metals. The use phase stands for about 13 kg 1,4-‐DB eq or 16% of the contribution to human toxicity and derives as in previous cases from the production and use of Swedish electricity.
Figure 11. Human Toxicity.
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As for human toxicity, the ReCiPe midpoint methodology uses the chemical 1,4-‐dichlorobenzene as a reference value for freshwater ecotoxicity and marine ecotoxicity. Values are calculated as amount in kg released to freshwater and seawater (ReCiPe, 2012). The production phase has, as shown in figure 12, the largest impact on freshwater ecotoxicity due to the use of foremost silver and gold. The value equals approximately 0.8 kg 1,4-‐DB eq or 81% of the total impact. The use phase stands for about 0.1 kg 1,4-‐DB eq or 15% of the total impact. For marine ecotoxicity, the production phase corresponds to about 0.8 kg 1,4-‐DB eq or 80% of impact, due to the use of brass, silver and gold. The use phase stands for or almost 0.2 kg 1,4-‐DB eq or 17% of marine exotoxicity.
Figure 12. Freshwater ecotoxicity and marine ecotoxicity.
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4.3.6 Metal depletion Depletion of resources is often seen as one of the most important impact categories, which have lead to several different impact assessment methods. It is still however a large lack of certainty in these methods and the problem is seen upon in many ways. (Baumann & Tillman, 2004) The ReCiPe midpoint method calculates metal depletion as the additional present costs occurring for the society in connection to the mining of minerals, expressed as iron equivalents (Fe eq). (ReCiPe, 2012) The diagram illustrated in figure 13 clearly shows that the production phase dominates depletion of minerals with a value of about 30 kg Fe eq, corresponding to approximately 96%. This depends above all on production and use of tin and gold. The use phase equals about 1 kg Fe eq or 4%.
Figure 13. Metal depletion.
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5 Discussion The aim of this study was to investigate and determine the effect of a Teracom Group product from a sustainability perspective and to develop recommendations for the company regarding how to proceed in order to reduce this impact. Being external and conducting a study in a company is a major challenge. It is essential to understand the activities of the involved companies and the investigated product life cycle. The process of building a good enough theoretical background is absolutely crucial in order to be able to conduct the study and to interpret the results. The project has mainly been limited by the time factor. Additional time to conduct the study would have resulted in a more profound investigation since the sustainability perspective, as stated in the aim, is far too complex and involves too many systems and subsystems to be able to cover in a 20-‐week study. In this study certain boundaries have been set, which have had an impact on the result. The fact that only one supplier and one product were used to represent Teracom Group and its products can be seen as a shortcoming. Investigating other suppliers and additional products would give a more comprehensive image of the total effect of all products. Therefore this thesis could be seen as a pilot study with the purpose of fulfilling the aim of creating recommendations. 5.1 Methodology The comprehensive literature study of background material has lead to a deep understanding of the current situation such as processes, business relations etc., which has facilitated the collection of data needed for the LCA. It has also given the basis for performing meaningful interviews giving answers regarding the study that cannot be found in literature. Early in the study it was decided that an LCA would be performed, to assess the environmental effects of the chosen product. Performing an LCA has many benefits. It takes into account all phases within the life cycle and not only obvious factors such as energy consumption during the usage phase. It is important to consider all phases and aspects of the total life cycle equally before conducting the assessment, since many less-‐affecting phases might together have a fairly large impact on the result. This however makes an LCA very extensive and time consuming. Just as mentioned before, the time limitation has led to exclusion of the social and financial aspects within the life cycle as well. This limitation also applies for the decision to not perform a sensitivity analysis of the LCA. The fact that Teracom Group is on top of the supplier chain makes it difficult to obtain data from more than the nearest supplier. To be able to conduct a complete LCA, all the involved sub suppliers would need to willingly contribute with data regarding their manufacturing processes, transports etc. To start with, there was a problem obtaining data, due to confidentiality, which took time to solve through a non-‐disclosure agreement. Processes and techniques used during manufacturing of components by Sagemcom’s sub suppliers were left outside the system boundaries. This decision might have had the largest impact on the result of the LCA since processes within this phase most likely demand a significant amount of energy and other resources. The performed LCA would have shown a more accurate result if this phase was included. The problem occurred however due to the difficulty in obtaining data from sub suppliers that Teracom Groups has no direct connection to or communication with.
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In addition to this, it is important to keep in mind that to a certain extent, the study is dependent on information from Teracom Group and to a large extent dependent on data from Sagemcom. This presents a risk of information being biased and not objective. This has to be taken into account in the judgment of the reliability of these sources. The companies can of course provide certain data that affects the result in a way from which they would benefit. In combination with the fact that each company must be careful and defend its trade secrets it is important to be careful when interpreting the result. Another factor contributing to a less reliable result of the LCA was the structure of the list describing all materials used during the manufacturing phase of the STB. The information did not explain how materials were processed, if they were included in the final product or just used as processing means. The total weight of the materials in the list was 2.026 kg and the final weight of the delivered packages was only 1.776. This difference is in some cases easy to understand. It is obvious that materials such as sand and water are not included as parts of the final product. The remaining weight however can be processing means, manufacturing waste or used in other ways, which of course can have different impact on the result of the LCA. An additional example showing uncertainties of the obtained information from Sagemcom are the transport distances. According to the company’s data, the average distance from the Swedish stock to final customer was 500 km. This value did however not match the average distance used in this study, which as aforementioned was based on fairly accurate calculations. Sagemcom might however consciously have made this assumption, which shows how the methodology and the result of an LCA might differ depending on who is conducting it. Without references or explanation it is difficult to check the reliability of used information. In conclusion, for people within Teracom Group with limited insight into suppliers’ production process, use of materials etc., in short from cradle to gate, it is difficult to understand how the obtained data should be used in an LCA. This fact is a strong reason to not conduct an LCA on a sourced product, but rather have the producer performing it and instead try to get access to the result. 5.2 Result of the life cycle assessment The result of the LCA, including both characterisation and normalisation values, clearly shows the importance of interpretation throughout a study like this. Depending on what values and how these are illustrated, the result can be perceived in numerous ways. As mentioned in the study, due to several reasons such as lack of data, assumptions made, uncertainties in SimaPro and the used database etc., the result is not totally accurate. The study does however give a fairly reliable indication that the production phase has the largest effect within several impact categories, while the use phase plays a greater roll in others. When evaluating the result, the climate change impact factor was highly connected to the use phase. The other impact categories on the other hand were more related to the production phase. It is also obvious that transports and the waste scenario have minimal impact on the result and there is thus no need to prioritise these phases at the moment. A deeper analysis of the result, examining the most contributing factors in each phase, would give additional answers and better understanding of how requirements on for instance future development should be created.
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The fact that all materials included in the product could not be found in SimaPro, and that others have been replaced with similar ones, has of course affected the result. Factors like this contributes to a less exact result of the LCA, even if it still works as a good indication on most impacting phases of the life cycle. Since SimaPro is advanced software, additional training would be needed to understand its full capacity and foremost to be able to interpret the result and to be able to consider it reasonable. 5.3 Lack of the social perspective An important shortcoming of this study that must not be forgotten when dealing with sustainability and LCA is used as a tool, is the social aspect within the concept. Environmental effects and economic consequences often overshadow social impacts. Time has as previously mentioned, been the limiting factor in the decision to not prioritise this aspect. Besides, the social aspect is often more difficult to connect to an LCA, which normally focuses on the environmental impacts. In order to highlight social effects within the life cycle of a product, a separate SLCA would be more appropriate. Unlike the financial dimension within sustainability, which inevitably is connected to the product through its manufacturing cost in relation to revenues of sale, the social perspective is usually not a driving force when making decisions based on an ordinary LCA. In other words, choices made to decrease environmental impact will have a clear impact on the economic aspects, but not social ones. Using software such as SimaPro when conducting an LCA leads to social conditions for employees in China, Tunisia, France and Sweden being ignored. At this point, the requirements put on suppliers; such as fulfilment of the global conduct, is a good start. A future demand on suppliers performing SLCA or similar investigations would give an even more reliable base for social related impacts. 5.4 Further recommendations The aforementioned shortcomings of this study demonstrate the difficulty of making an LCA in the position of being at the company purchasing products, not manufacturing them. One example showing the downfall of being external and conducting this type of study, is that far into the project it became obvious that Sagemcom has a fairly well-‐developed strategy for sustainability – a fact that Teracom Group did not seem to be aware of. This clearly shows that the company previously has not focused enough on sustainability regarding products. Better communication with suppliers would most likely minimise the risk of performing less reliable investigations or even duplicating work. For the purpose of this study, it could have meant stronger focus on a deeper level, helping both Teracom Group and Sagemcom to obtain more accurate impact knowledge of the investigated product. The result of the LCA should only be used as an indicator on the environmental impact of each of the main phases. This can however be sufficient as a first step in the development of how products are handled within Teracom Group. The information needed for conducting an LCA, can more easily be obtained from people working directly with development and manufacturing of the products. Since these data normally are strictly regulated by confidentiality and trade secrets, Teracom Group should not put efforts into performing LCAs of the company’s sourced product range. An LCA performed by the supplier would be more reliable since Sagemcom has the power to obtain data regarding the company’s own and its suppliers’ processes. For instance, to decrease the amount of released CO2 eq, Teracom Group needs to put greater
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demand on the production phase of the investigated STB. More exactly, the company must require an effective production phase but foremost only allow much lower energy consumption, during the use phase of the STB. These requirements must be prioritised already in development and procurement. Communication and cooperation between Teracom Group and its suppliers are two key factors for this. During future procurement the life cycle related shortcomings must be just as prioritised as economical or functional aspects of the products. This means that, as with products not fulfilling the functional demands, products not investigated from a life cycle perspective with a clear declaration should not be purchased. Higher requirements should be put on the suppliers including demands on performed LCAs with clearly described references and methods, critically review by a third party. The earlier mentioned standardised method EPD, or other similar tools should be included as a step in the follow-‐up plan of this project. A future goal should be environmental/sustainability labelling, which would benefit both the supplier and Teracom Group. On the other hand, in addition to putting demands on the suppliers, Teracom Group has a responsibility of its own, namely to compile the necessary data for suppliers to be able to perform an LCA. Examples of this are average distances of transports regarding products in Sweden; total amount of STBs sold annually; customer use including energy consumption etc. A solution would be to create some kind of compilation document containing this information.
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6 Conclusions Based on previous discussion and especially further recommendations, the following conclusions have been made:
-‐ The production and use phase have the largest potential effect on the environment, while transports and the waste scenario have a minimal potential environmental impact.
-‐ Sustainable development regarding products demands greater effort and more resources from Teracom Group. Knowledge, awareness, communication and cooperation are key words. There are no shortcuts.
-‐ Teracom Group should not perform LCA, since the company does not own the
development process nor produce the products, due to the difficulties in collecting accurate data and interpreting the results.
-‐ Higher demands on product declaration, including a third part approved LCA, must be
put on suppliers when purchasing new products. An EPD or similar tool is a good option.
-‐ Teracom Group has a responsibility to compile useable data regarding activities within the company, for future LCAs performed by suppliers.
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i
Appendix I – Data regarding Sagemcom RTI90 320HD Transport per product Distance
[km] Ton km [tkm]
SimaPro
Chinese manufacturers to Chinese harbour 2000 4.052 Transport, lorry >16t, fleet average/RER S Chinese harbour to Tunisian factory 17500 35.455 Transport, transoceanic freight ship/OCE S Tunisian factory to French harbour 850 1.722 Transport, transoceanic freight ship/OCE S French harbour to Swedish stock 2425 4.913 Transport, lorry >16t, fleet average/RER S Swedish stock to final customer 394 0.798 Transport, lorry >16t, fleet average/RER S Reference: Tremblay, F., 2012. Data regarding Sagemcom RTI90 320HD. [Email] (Personal communication, 8 October 2012) Tunisian electricity mix Electricity
[GWh] Per Cent
[%] oil 1443 9.2 gas 14074 89.7 hydro 79 0.5 wind 97 0.6 Reference: International Energy Agency, 2011. Electricity/Heat in Tunisia 2009. [Online] Available at: http://www.iea.org/stats/electricitydata.asp?COUNTRY_CODE=TN [Accessed 5 November 2012] Use Phase Effect
[W] Time
[min/day] Electricity
[kWh] Electricity (over 5 years)
[kWh] active watching 13.335 162 0.036 65.708 additional on mode 13.335 180 0.040 73.009 standby mode 1.479 1098 0.027 48.718 off 0 0 0 0 References: Tremblay, F., 2012. Data regarding Sagemcom RTI90 320HD. [Email] (Personal communication, 8 October 2012) MMS, 2011. Årsrapport 2011. [Online] Available at: http://www.mms.se/_dokument/rapporter/ar/Årsrapport%202011.pdf [Accessed 6 November 2012]
TRITA-IM 2013:01
Industrial Ecology,
Royal Institute of Technology
www.ima.kth.se
