2. Green Products
How to define ‘Green’?
• Many definitions
• Also self‐defined by producers
• Some use ecolabels
Compliance
Leanness in
use of
resources
Do No
Harm
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How much ‘Green’ is ‘Green’?
• Products and services
– That are environmentally friendly
• Environmentally friendly relative to those available
– Have lesser / reduced impact on human health and
environment than other product that perform similar
function
• Behind every product there’s a ‘past’ and a ‘future’
– The life cycle
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3. Green Products
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Leather production
Chromium compounds
Metal finishing
Acid wastes and
heavy metals
Plastic production
Plastic wastes
Iron/Steel
Production
Slags
Paintings
Paint sludges
& solvents
Aluminum
Production
Slags
Rubber production
Rubber wastes
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Tooling & machining
Cutting oils
and emulsions
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4. Green Products
What is Green Products/Services?
• Products/Services* that
– Are More environmentally friendly relative to other products in the
same category .
– Have lesser / reduced impact on human health and environment than
other product that perform similar function
Green products / services would typically display all or some of the
following characteristics;
• conservation of energy and water
• minimized generation of waste and releases of pollutants or
emissions
• be recyclable or themselves be made from recycled materials; and
• use energy from renewable sources.
*United Nations Environment Programme
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What is Green Products/Services?
Any product which is made, used or disposed
of in a way that significantly reduces the harm
it would otherwise cause to the environment,
can be categorized as Green product
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8. Green Products
Understanding Consumption & Production
Use of natural resources
Industry
Products
Recycled waste
products
Consumers /
people
Polluted environment
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Need of the Hour:
Decoupling of Economic Growth
from Environmental Degradation
Quality of life
Change of
production
techniques
Economic
growth
Change of
consumption
patterns
Use of natural
resources
Wuppertal Institute
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10. Green Products
Life Cycle thinking
• Company creates impacts not only through its own
processes but along the life cycle of a product, and taking
action
• Shift in the conventional thinking!
• Greening the supply chain
• Life Cycle – from raw material
extraction to final disposal and/or
recycling!
• Extended Producer’s Responsibility
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Life Cycle thinking
• Includes environmental,
social, and economic impact
of product
• Aims to reduce product‘s
resource use and emissions
• Aims to improve product‘s
socio‐economic
performance
Learning about the
environmental
performance of
products and services
Minimizing
production and
regulatory costs
Minimizing
environmental and
human health
damage
Understanding trade‐
offs between
multiple impact
categories and
product phases
Supporting equitable
economic
distribution and
profitable operations
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11. Green Products
LCA – Key elements
Calculating the
load
• Identifying and quantifying env.
loads involved – resources used
and emissions/wastes released
Evaluating the
impact
• Assessing and evaluating
potential env. impacts of these
loads
Assessing
opportunities for
Environmental
Improvement
• Assessing opportunities during
decision making process to bring
about env improvements
• LCA is a method that
considers energy and raw
material consumption,
different types of
emissions and other
important factors related
to a specific product’s
entire life cycle from an
environmental point of
view.
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Life Cycle of Jeans
Cultivation of Cotton
in Country A
Transport
Processing
at the spinning mill
in Country B
Jeans manufacturing
in Country C
NATURE
Dumping or
Recycling
Waste Collection
Transport
Transport
Marketing and Sales
in Country D
Collection by
the second‐hand shop
for re‐use
Transport
Use by
Source:
the Consumers
Source: UNEP, Wuppertal Institute
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13. Green Products
Life Cycle Costing (LCC)
• Decision making tool
• Instrumental to Life Cycle Management is Life Cycle Costing
• The assessment of “cost” should consider all costs throughout
the life‐cycle ‐ purchase price, usage costs (energy/water
consumption, maintenance), and disposal costs
"... a technique which enables comparative cost assessments to be
made over a specified period of time, taking into account all
relevant economic factors both in terms of initial capital costs and
future operational costs"
(BS 15686‐1, 2000; p.28)
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Use of LCC in decision making
Selecting the alternative which optimizes both environmental
and economic considerations
Source: The Econo‐environmental
Return; Gontran Bage, Rejean Sampson
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