Life Cycle Management: Paper & Plastic Bags

This research performs life-cycle assessments on two products·plastic bags and paper bags. The two products are considered to be substitutes for one another, and the end objective of the life-cycle assessments performed on the two products is to compare the life-cycle costs of the two products for the purpose of recommending a production strategy for a company that produces bags.

A life-cycle assessment for paper bags is presented in the following section, and this presentation is followed by a presentation of a life-cycle assessment for plastic bags in the succeeding section. Following the presentations of the two life-cycle assessments, the two substitute products are compared with the emphasis being placed on the full costs of the products for the manufacturing company. Recommendations and conclusions based on this comparison are then presented.

Life cycle assessment attempts to measure the total environmental effects of a product "from cradle to grave." Proponents contend that life-cycle assessment can provide the information to assess tradeoffs throughout the life of every product.

Life-cycle assessment permits producing organizations to determine the environmental impact of both their products and the manufacturing processes used in the production of those goods. As manufacturing companies have experienced increasing pressures to minimize adverse environmental effects of all types, therefore, life-cycle

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e Inventory Plastic Bags Environmental Factor Emissions [metric tons] SO2 0.07037 CO 0.01655 NO2 0.04692 VOC 0.27504 Lead 0.00001 PM10 0.00241 MTCO2E 58.76522 Non-Point Air 0.02432 Point Air 0.03892 Air Releases 0.04723 Water Releases 0.00225 Land Releases 0.00106 Underground Releases 0.01568 The life-cycle inventory of plastic bags indicates that several environmental factors are involved in the production and use of the product. These factors come into play at every stage of the life cycle of plastic bags. Life-Cycle Impact Assessment Qualitative aspects of the life-cycle are addressed through the life-cycle impact assessment. The life-cycle impact assessment, however, also includes technical and quantitative data to assess the effects of the resource requirements and environmental factors (atmospheric emissions, waterborne emissions, and solid wastes) identified in the life-cycle inventory. The life-cycle impact assessment for plastic bags developed in this section considers ecological and human health impacts, and resource depletion. Other effects, such as habita
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Approximate Word count = 1979
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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