With the expansion of pollution-prevention initiatives in the government sector, development of certification and eco-labeling mechanisms in foreign trade, and the emergence of “green” market drivers for consumer demand, industry is under increasing pressure to evaluate the “life-cycle” waste streams which emanate from their products and manufacturing processes. While much research has been devoted to the study of “system-level” design-for-environment (i.e. design for disassembly, serviceability, modularity), little attention has been given to the influence of planning and design decisions at the unit manufacturing process level, which has a significant impact on waste streams through material, catalyst, parameter and feature selection decisions. One of the most pressing issues in environmentally-conscious manufacturing is the ability to compare the environmental impacts of dissimilar waste streams to formulate the above decisions. This paper presents an overview of the hierarchical levels of comparative waste assessment which links process-level emissions to immediate, site-wide, and eco-system impacts. Significant issues to be addressed are: (1) the aggregation of data collection required for each level of decision-making, (2) the range of environmental effects needed to be analyzed at each level, (3) the uncertainty present at different levels of data aggregation, (4) the influence of site-specific (fate and transport) factors, and (5) the transformation of environmental information into metrics usable in detailed design and planning of products and processes. Case studies in the fabrication of metal parts and printed circuit boards are presented.

Issue Section:
Research Papers
Topics:
Manufacturing, Design, Catalysts, Cycles, Data collection, Decision making, Emissions, Feature selection, Governments, Maintainability, Metals, Pollution control, Pressing, Pressure, Printed circuit boards, Uncertainty
1.
Consoli, F., et al., 1993, “Guidelines for Life-Cycle Assessment: A Code of Practice,” Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Pensacola, FL.
2.
Fava, J., Consoli, F., Denison, R., Dickson, K., Mohin, T., and Vigon, B., eds., 1993,A Conceptual Framework for Life-Cycle Imapact Assessment, Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Pensacola, Florida.
3.
Srinivasan
M.
,
Wu
T.
, and
Sheng
P.
,
1995
, “
Development of a Scoring Index for the Evaluation of Environmental Factors in Machining Processes: Part 1—Health Hazards Score Formulation
,”
Transactions of NAMRI
, Vol.
23
, pp.
115
–
122
.
4.
Saaty, T. L., 1980, The Analytic Hierarchy Process: Planning, Priority Setting, Resource Allocation, McGraw-Hill, New York.
5.
Gune, P., and Sheng, P., 1995, “Influence of Site Specific Factors in Environmentally-Conscious Manufacturing,” Proc. ASME IMECE Symposium on Life-Cycle Engineering, Nov. San Francisco, CA.
6.
Munoz
A.
, and
Sheng
P.
,
1995
, “
An Analytical Approach for Determining the Environmental Impact of Machining Processes
,”
Journal of Materials Processing Technology
, Vol.
53
, No.
3–4
, pp.
736
–
758
.
7.
Hueting, R., 1980, New Scarcity and Economic Growth—More Welfare Through Less Production. North-Holland Publishing Co., Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
8.
Zolotas, X., 1981, “Economic Growth and Declining Social Welfare,” Report of the Bank of Greece, Athens, Greece.
9.
Repetto, R., and Magrath, W., 1988, Natural Resource Accounting, World Resources Institute, Washington, D.C.
10.
Repetto, R., 1989, Wasting Assets: Natural Resources in the National Income Accounts, World Resources Institute, Washington, D.C.
11.
Daly, H., and Cobb J., Jr., 1989, For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future, Beacon Press, Boston.
12.
Saleth, R., and Swaminathan, M., 1992, “Sustainable Livelihood Security Index: A Litmus Test for Sustainable Development,” Proc. UN Conference on the Concept and Measurement of Sustainability, Washington, D.C. June 22–25.
13.
Vizcarra
A.
,
Lo
K.
, and
Liao
P.
,
1994
, “
A Life-Cycle Inventory of Baby Diapers Subject to Canadian Conditions
,”
Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
, Vol.
13
, No.
10
, Oct. pp.
1707
–
1716
.
14.
Gradel, T., Allenby, B., and Linhart, P., 1993, “Implementing Industrial Ecology,” IEEE Technology and Society, Spring, pp. 18–26.
15.
Ahbe, S., Braunschweig, A., and Mu¨ller-Wenk, R., 1990, “Methodik fu¨r Oekobilanzen auf der Basis O¨kologischer Optimierung,” Schriftenreihe Umwelt, Nr. 133, Bundesamt fu¨r Umwelt, Wald und Landschaft, Bern, Switzerland.
16.
Smet, B., 1990, “Life-Cycle Analysis for Packaging Environmental Assessment,” Proc. of the Leuven Workshop, Procter & Gamble Technical Center, Strombeek-Bever, Belgium, Sept.
17.
Zu¨rn, J., and Diener, J., 1994, “Ecological Assessment of Products and Processes—Challenge and Opportunity,” Daimler-Benz AG Research Center Report, Ulm, Germany.
18.
Sage, J., 1993, Industrielle Ahfallvermeidung and deren Bewertung am Beispiel der Leiterplattenherstellung, dbv-Verlag, Technische Universitat Graz, Austria.
19.
Hofstetter, P., 1991, “Bewertungsmodelle fur O¨kobilanzen,” Arbeits-papier 2/91 des Projektes Umweltbelastung durch die End-und Nutzenergiebereit-stellung, Laboratorium fr Energiesysteme, ML E 35, ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
20.
Bringezu, S., Hinterberger, F., and Schtz, H., 1994, “Integrating Sustainability into the System of National Accounts: The Case of Internegional Material Flows,” Proc. International AFCET Symposium Models of Sustainable Development. Exclusive or Complementary Approaches to Sustainability, Vol. 2, March 16–18, Paris, pp. 669–680.
21.
Hinterberger, F., Kranendonk, S., Welfens, M., and Schmidt-Bleek, F., 1994, “Increasing Resource Productivity through Eco-efficient Services,” Wuppertal Paper No. 13, Wuppertal Institute, Wuppertal, Germany.
22.
Schmidt-Bleek, F., 1994, Wieviel Umwelt braucht der Mensch? mips-Das Mass fu¨r O¨kologisches Wirtschaften, Birkauser Verlag GmbH, Berlin.
23.
Narodoslawsky, M., Krotschek, Ch., and Sage, J., 1994, “The Sustainable Process Index (SPI) - A Measure for Process Industries,” Proceedings AFCET, International Symposium: Models of Sustainable Development, Exclusive or Complementary Approaches of Sustainability Vol. 2, March 16–18, Paris.
24.
Krotscshek, C., 1993, “SPI Case Study of the Synthesis of Ethanol from Sugar Beet,” Task Group on Ecologic Bioprocessing of the European Federation of Biotechnology, Final Report, A. Moser and M. Narodoslawsky, eds., OGBPT, Graz, Austria.
25.
Ehrenfeld, J., 1994, “Industrial Ecolocy: A Strategic Framework for Product Policy and Other Sustainable Practices,” The Second International Conference and Workshop on Product Oriented Policy, Stockholm, Sweden.
26.
Steen, B., and Ryding, S., 1991, “The EPS Environmental Accountin Method: An Application of Environmental Accounting Principles for Evaluation and Valuation of Environmental Impact on Product Design,” IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute Publication.
27.
Guinee
J.
, and
Heijungs
R.
,
1993
, “
A Proposal for the Classification of Toxic Substances within the Framework of Life Cycle Assessment of Products
,”
Chemosphere
, Vol.
26
, No.
10
, pp.
1925
–
1944
.
28.
Alting
L.
, and
Jorgensen
J.
,
1993
, “
The Life-Cycle Concept as a Basis for Sustainable Industrial Production
,”
Annals of the CIRP
, Vol.
42
, No.
1
, pp.
163
–
167
.
29.
Jovane
F.
,
Alting
L.
,
Armillotta
A.
,
Feldmann
K.
, and
Roth
N.
,
1993
, “
A Key Issue in Product Life Cycle: Disassembly
,”
Annals of the CIRP
, Vol.
42
, NO.
2
, pp.
651
–
658
.
30.
Guinee, J., 1994, “Review of Classification and Characterisation Methodologies,” Integrating Impact Assessment into LCA, Report of SETAC-Europe, Brussels, Belgium.
31.
Heijungs, R., 1994, “Valuation: A Societal Approach,” Integrating Impact Assessment Into LCA, Report of SETAC-Europe, Brussels, Belgium.
32.
Mackay
D.
, and
Paterson
S.
,
1981
, “
Calculating Fugacity
,”
Environmental Science and Technology
, Vol.
15
, No.
9
, Sept., pp.
1006
–
1014
.
33.
Mackay
D.
, and
Paterson
S.
, “
Evaluating the Multimedia Fate of Organic Chemicals: A Level III Fugacity Model
,”
Environmental Science and Technology
, Vol.
25
, No.
3
, March, pp.
427
–
436
.
34.
Harte, J., 1988, Consider a Spherical Cow--?? A Course in Environmental Problem Solving, University Science Books, Mill Valley, CA.
35.
Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances, 1995, CD-ROM, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Rockville, MD, Feb.
36.
Mackay, D., 1995, Personal Communication with E. Hertwich, July 24.
This content is only available via PDF.
Copyright © 1998
 by The American Society of Mechanical Engineers
You do not currently have access to this content.