5. What is the LCA?

^{Figura 7. LCA}

LCA, Life Cycle Assessment is the tool that analyses the life cycle and thus the environmental behaviour of a product or service during all its phases. In fact, a product is said to be analysed from cradle to grave, i.e. from the extraction and processing of raw materials, through production, transport, use phase and end of life.

The life cycle is a process of analysis that is given by the succession of all those steps involved in the creation of the product, its use and its disposal. It is characterised by the absence of waste.

Specifically, the environmental impact of a product is determined by the input and output flows of each phase of the entire life cycle. By input streams we mean the resources used, such as energy, water, etc., while by output streams we mean emissions into the air, water and soil. The LCA tool aims to quantify the environmental impacts occurring at these stages. The aim is to improve the environmental performance of both the product and its life cycle phases.

In general, products are composed of innumerable parts, each part in turn having its own life cycle. The objective of the LCA is to add up all the life cycle analyses of each part and determine the final life cycle of the complete product.

^{Figure 8. Renewable resources}

LCA, to be carried out, needs to follow specific standards. We are talking about ISO 14040-14044. This set of standards describes the procedure to be followed when carrying out a study, which is characterised by 4 distinct phases:

• objective and scope, in which a detailed process tree including all inputs (resource inputs) and outputs (emissions) is developed;
• inventory analysis, which involves the collection of all data relating to individual processes;
• impact assessment, in which the environmental impacts on health, resources and ecosystem quality are examined;
• interpretation, i.e. the results in relation to predefined objectives.