The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a methodology used to evaluate the environmental impact of a product, process, or service throughout its entire life cycle. 

What is the life cycle? 

A life cycle is the several stages of a product from its creation until its disposal. It typically includes several stages, such as raw material extraction, material production, manufacturing, packaging, and transportation. However, the life cycle doesn’t end once the product is in the hands of the customer. It is important to include its use and any maintenance the customer had to do until the end-of-life disposal or recycling of the product. 

Why is this assessment important? 

The goal of LCA is to identify and quantify the environmental impact of a product or service. 

It is important and helpful for many reasons, including: 

1. Identify environmental impacts: LCA helps identify and quantify the environmental impacts associated with a product throughout its entire life cycle.

2. Inform product design: After identifying the impacts, LCA allows you to determine opportunities to reduce environmental impacts during product design and development. Designers can make data-supported decisions that optimize environmental performance and minimize the impacts 

3. Compare Products: This assessment provides a standardized methodology for comparing the environmental performance of different products, processes, or services. This is for more informed decision-making when selecting products with lower environmental impacts

4. Foster sustainability: By identifying opportunities for improvement, LCA can help to promote more sustainable practices and products, thereby preserving natural resources for future generations.

Understanding the two approaches your company can take

When performing the Life Cycle Assessment companies can actually choose the scope. They can choose between performing a Cradle to Gate assessment or a Cradle to Grave assessment. Let’s take a look at their differences: 

1. Cradle to Gate: This approach evaluates the environmental impact of a product from the point of its creation (cradle) to the point where it leaves the factory gate. This means this scope includes all the raw materials, energy, and other inputs used in the manufacturing process, as well as any waste and emissions produced. However, it does not consider what happens after the product has left the factory

   
   

2. Cradle to Grave:  This approach evaluates the environmental impact of a product from the point of its creation (cradle) to the end of its useful life/ disposal (grave). This means that the scope includes everything that was included in the Cradle to Gate approach and, additionally, considers the impact of the product at the end of its life. This includes disposal, recycling, and any other end-of-life scenarios. 

Although, Cradle to Gate helps manufacturers identify the most energy and resources-intensive stages and, thus, identifies opportunities for reducing environmental impact. Cradle to Grave assessment is useful to understand the full impact of a product and can help inform decisions about end-of-life management, such as recycling or disposal options.  

Which approach should you choose? 

Accounting for the end of life is crucial in assessing the environmental impact of a product as it provides a more comprehensive understanding of its full life cycle. Without considering the end-of-life impacts a product might appear environmentally friendly during its useful life, but may have significant impacts on the environment during its disposal. With this approach, stakeholders can make more informed decisions about product design, resource allocation, and end-of-life management strategies, such as recycling or safe disposal methods, which can, ultimately, help reduce the environmental impact of a product. 

Additionally, the EU regulations tend to require a Life Cycle Assessment that, depending on the product, follows a Cradle to Grave assessment. In fact, when it comes to the fashion industry, the EU has considered it inconceivable to not require a cradle-to-grave approach.

How can your company perform this assessment?

The Life Cycle Assessment generally involves the following steps: 

1. Goal definition and scope: Define the goal and scope of the assessment, including the product being evaluated, the intended use of the results, and any specific environmental impacts of interest

2. Inventory analysis: Collect data on the inputs and outputs associated with each input and output. This includes air pollution, water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and resource depletion

3. Impact assessment: Evaluate the potential environmental impacts associated with each input and output, such as air pollution, water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and resource depletion.

4. Interpretation: Analyze the result of the inventory analysis and impact assessment to draw conclusions about the environmental performance of the product and identify opportunities for improvement

5. Reporting: Document the methodology, results, and conclusions in a report that can be shared with the stakeholders. This reporting will also be crucial for complying with the new environmental regulations of the EU

Conclusion

Overall, performing a Life Cycle Assessment is a very complex time-consuming process. MetrikFlow is here to help. Our easy-to-use software tool is specially designed for the fashion industry and can support you throughout the sustainability assessment process. With MetrikFlow you can confidently make data-driven decisions that will help reduce your environmental impact and promote sustainable practices.