JLCA NEWS ENGLISH EDITION Mar.2007

3

No.

JLCA
NEWS LETTER
Life-Cycle Assessment Society of Japan

Contents

Development of LCA Studies and Future Expectations ..................................... 1
Utilization of Environment Labels.................................................................... 2

LCA Information Disclosure Using Eco-Leaf Environment Labels ...................... 5
The Eco Mark Program and Product Life Cycle Assessment ............................ 8
Outline of the Life Cycle Assessment Society of Japan(JLCA)database ........... 11
Environmental Databse Based on an Input-Output Table .................................. 15
AIST-LCA Database ............................................................................................ 18

JLCA News Letter No.2

Development of LCA Studies
and Future Expectations

Musashi Institute of Technology

Norihiro Itsubo

LCA must become a "tool" instead of a "procedure" if it is to be used for general-purposes. To make LCA intoa "tool," then it is necessary to develop an infrastructure that allows everyone to implement LCA. The coreelements of the LCA infrastructure are (1) inventory databases and (2) impact assessment methods.
Development of these depends on the research sector, and I believe the participation of researchers ismeaningful. In this article, from the standpoint of a researcher, I would like to describe the future LCA study
trends based on the current LCA study status.
The recent LCA study trends are as follows:- Development of the concept and data of LCA into other tools or ideas(LCC, LCM, industrial models, environmental efficiency, and so on)- Integration of knowledge of other fields of study in order to improve the standard of LCA (procedures)(incorporation of biology, toxicology, medical science, immunology, sociology and economics)
While the former is an "outward" development based on LCA studies, the latter is an "inward" development inwhich other study fields are integrated into LCA studies. Although there is no doubt that LCA has anextremely important role to play in society, I realize that there will be difficult challenges and issues as follows
during the course of promotion of the abovementioned "outward" and "inward" developments.
First, the former (LCA -> other evaluation assessment tools) is examined here. In the 1990's, LCI caseexample research was established as a study theme. However, the understanding that the LCA infrastructure
is now fully developed has been spreading, and it is difficult to take initiative using only LCI. In fact, at the
recent general meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), the number ofpresentations on LCC and LCM dramatically increased. Therefore, development of the LCI and LCIA
methods is now starting to be categorized as “basic” LCA research.
It should be noted, however, that the "basic" LCA research must not be neglected because the attention ofmany LCA experts is now shifted to advanced studies. Since nature and technologies are always changing,overlooking obsolete data may cause extremely serious problems. While LCA continues to develop rapidly,
without anyone noticing them, gaps have been emerging between what LCA implementers want fromresearchers and what researchers are interested in. Therefore, it is necessary to establish appropriate
measures in order to provide LCA researchers with incentives for rediscovering the importance of basic LCA
research.
Next, let us examine the latter case (environmental science in various fields -> LCA studies). For the past few
years, LCIA has made rapid progress and this progress is mainly attributed to the development of new
aspects of the LCIA method by integrating useful knowledge in other environmental science fields. As aresult, research on LCIA method development is becoming more and more like multidisciplinary research.
When this occurs, support for "basic studies" such as immunology or air quality research becomes necessary
in LCIA studies. However, the importance of "new social needs" in terms of LCIA studies has not beenrecognized in the area of basic studies mentioned here. This is the gap among researchers from various
academic fields regarding social needs. Unless this gap is eliminated, multidisciplinary research cannot bemeaningful.
In Europe, research on risk assessment mainly for chemical substances and research for establishing an
LCIA interface have already established their positions. Academic conferences such as the SETAC greatly
contribute to continuous development of LCA studies.
LCA researchers are responsible for continuing examination of "basic LCA research," and in order to realize
sustainable improvement of the basic LCA research standard, it is essential to establish a system whichallows the "basic study fields" such as biology to contribute to LCA. Also, in order to improve the quality of"advanced LCA research" such as environmental efficiency or eco-labels, those who are involved in theadvanced research must inform the basic-study side of social needs. Through this process, the importance ofbasic studies can be rediscovered, and well-balanced research and development can be realized.
Such interdisciplinary systemization can be effectively realized if some academic society takes the initiative. It
is desirable that an organization or academic society leading LCA studies actively contribute to the promotionof interdisciplinary communication such as basic studies (LCA) <- -> advanced LCA research, and basic
studies to be used in LCIA <- -> research on LCIA method development. I expect that such activities will be
proactively carried out at the LCA Society of Japan or the Institute of Life Cycle Assessment, Japan.

JLCA News Letter No.3

1

Case Study
Utilization ofEnvironment Labels

Ikuo Komatsu
Environment Department, Material Purchase& Environment Division, Toyo Seikan Kaisha, Ltd.

1. Introduction

Figure 1 shows a comparison of the main environmental burdens
during the manufacture of TULC and aluminum DI (ADI) cans.
Since TULC cans are formed using a polyester laminated material,
the lacquer coating and baking on the inside of the can after its
forming is not necessary, and as a result, the amount of carbon
dioxide emission could be suppressed to less than 1/3 ofconventional DI can manufacturing. This is because the energy
consumption decreased with the elimination of baking process,and no discharge of carbon dioxide due to the burning of solvents
during the discharge gas treatment.

We are making efforts aimed at making a sound material-cycle
society that uses the limited natural resources efficiently while
reducing environmental burdens and ill effects on the global
environment.
Our company has developed, as metal containers that give due
consideration to the environment, two-piece cans called “TULC”
and “aTULC” that are formed using polyester laminated metal plateby “dry forming” without using water.
Toyo Seikan has been pursuing the activity of attachingenvironment labels for the purpose of promoting to the
manufacturers who fill their products into the containers, in addition
to appealing directly to the consumers the environmental
superiority of metal containers using laminated materials such as
TULC.
In the following, we describe some examples of utilizing
environment labels of the environment friendly type metal cans of
the “TULC” series.

Further, since large amount of lubricants and coolants are not usedin this can manufacturing system, there is no need for the washingprocess after forming and the cleaning water discharging
processes, and hence the amount of water used effectively
became zero. In addition, since there is no generation of sludge
associated with the waste water treatment process, the solid wastematerial generated in the can manufacturing processes became
extremely small.

2. Environment Friendly Type Metal Cans “TULC”

3. Utilization of Environment Labels

Conventional DI cans (Drawn & Ironing cans) are formed by usinglarge amount of lubricant/coolant, then solvent and carbon dioxideare emitted from the lacquer coating and baking process. It was
found that decreasing these environmental burdens was the main
issue.
Toyo Seikan developed new can manufacturing system called
TULC by utilizing polyester laminated metal plate and dry forming
process, to solve the problem. This process doesn’t needconventional lubricant/coolant and eliminates lacquer coating. So
the environmental burdens generated from the can manufacturing
processes were reduced remarkably.

We not only strongly introduced the environmental superiority of
TULC to the customers right from the time it was put on the market,
but also made presentations in academic conferences, lecture
meets, and exhibitions, and carried out promotion activities by
distributing pamphlets, etc. These activities were mainly those
aimed at our customers who fill their products in the cans, andwere not directed at the general consumers. Further, since ourcompany is a manufacturer of containers, and since the end
product is sold as a brand of the contents in the containers, we
almost did not do any advertising promotion towards the general
consumers.

CO2 Emission (g / Can )
6.1

TULC
AD I

20.3
0

5

10

15

20

25

Solid Waste (g / Can )TULC 0.0024
AD I

0.8
0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

Water Consumption ( L / Can )TULC 0

0.15

AD I
0

0.04

0.08

0.12

0.16

Fig. 1 Comparison of environmental burdens during can manufacturing (per 350ml can)JLCA News Letter No.3

2

Case Study

In view of this, as a means of selection for the general consumer at
the time of purchase, we considered that it is necessary that they
understand that it is an environment friendly product, and clearly
indicated environment labels on the products and carried out
expanded sales while appealing along with the brand owner.

Although this label is not one that judges the superiority or
inferiority of the product, disclosure of environmental information isan essential social responsibility of a company, and obtaining typeIII environment labels is spreading in the world.
We considered that it is important to disclose the environmental
information about containers, proposed establishing the ProductSpecification Criteria (PSC) in the field of “Metal cans forbeverages and foods”, and carried out activities towards theirestablishment.
About ten companies participated in the Working Group during the
preparation of PSC draft, and discussions were repeatedregarding the detailed standards for LCA evaluation for EcoLeaf.
(February 2004 to May 2005)
Here, the a similar method to the “Investigation Report on Life
Cycle Assessment of Container and Packaging” that was
implemented by the Ministry of Environment of Japan from fiscal
2002 to fiscal 2004, particularly, the treatment of recycled materials
was defined clearly, and considerations were given so that there isno inequality depending on the type of container.

Although initially we investigated acquiring the certification of type I
environment label (Eco mark), but since it was difficult at that timeto get the Eco mark approved for metal cans because of theapproval standards (product category and criteria of metal cans),
we affixed the type II environment labels which are of the self
declared type.

3.1 Type II Environment Labels
Type II environment labels are labels affixed by the manufacturer
to claim the environmental superiority of the products at the
responsibility of the manufacturer. Toyo Seikan adopted anenvironmental label in cooperation with Q.P. Corp. from 2003
onwards and put these labels on cans of meat sauce and saucesfor cooking.
In these labels, explanatory text about theenvironmental superiority of TULC cans used as the containers is
printed along with the logo mark on the outside of the cans. These
logo marks can be put on all TULC products adopted by all
customers.
Here, it was clearly stated that “CO2 emission during canmanufacture is made smaller compared to conventional cans, andthe cans are formed without using water.”
However, since the type II environment labels are merely selfdeclaration type labels, it was considered necessary to provide
environmental information that can be trusted more, and we started
activities to acquire the qualification of the type III environment
labels.

Conventionally, although a method had been proposed that
evaluated only closed loop recycling in which recycling was done
from cans to cans, we considered that this would attend to only apart of the problem and worked towards evaluating properly eventhe so-called open loop recycling in which recycling is done forpurposes other than cans.
In addition, although so far it is common not to include the burdens
during the process of filling the containers since the contents filled
are varied, it has this time been decided to include theenvironment load of filling in two types of scenarios (carbonateddrinks and retort drinks) so that in the future the filling
manufacturers can study EcoLeaf including the environmental
burdens of manufacturing and filling the contents.

Fig. 2 Type II environment label of TULC
and examples of products using themNo. BC-05-001
Fig. 3 EcoLeaf environmental label

3.2 Type III Environment Labels
The type III environment labels are affixed along with disclosure ofenvironmental information according to some fixed standards
stipulated by a third party organization. The “EcoLeaf” markapproved by the Japan Environmental Management Association
for Industry (JEMAI) is the most famous Type III label in Japan.
The consumers can get the environment information of that productby searching the registration number on the website of JEMAI.

JLCA News Letter No.3

Immediately after the PSC of metal cans was established, Toyo
Seikan’s TULC series products were acquired the qualification of
EcoLeaf Labels.
Toyo Seikan has already acquired thequalification of EcoLeaf Labels in 17 metal can types. And theirenvironmental information are disclosed on JEMAI’s website(Fig. 4).

3

Case Study

4. Conclusions

Further, products with the EcoLeaf mark printed on them are
introduced in the market from March 2006.
Website of Japan Environmental Management Association for
Industry (JEMAI):
http://www.jemai.or.jp/english/ecoleaf/

We consider that making public the information of containers
having superior environmental performance is equal to“responding to the trust of customers”, and will continue our efforts
to promote our customers (the filling manufacturers) who haveadopted out TULC series products to put the “EcoLeaf mark” intheir products.

Resistration No.

Probuct Name

Can Code1BC-05-001

TULC 200ml Low Vacuum

J200TF2-S

2

BC-05-002

TEC200

J200TF2R38

3

BC-05-003

aTULC 350ml 204End

B350TL14

4

BC-05-004

aTULC 500ml 204End

B500TL145

BC-05-008

TULC 160ml Low Vacuum

J160TF2-S

6

BC-05-009

TULC 175ml Low Vacuum

J175TF2-S

7

BC-05-010

TULC 250ml Low Vacuum

J250TF2-S

8

BC-05-011

TULC 280ml Low Vacuum

J280TF16-S

9

BC-05-012

TULC 280ml Normal Vacuum

J280TF16

10

BC-05-013

TULC 280ml For Food

J280TF18

11

BC-05-014

TULC 350ml Low Vacuum

J350TF16-S

12

BC-05-015

TULC 350ml Normal Vacuum

J350TF16

13

BC-05-016

TULC 200ml Pressurized

C200TF2HF

14

BC-05-017

TULC 280ml Pressurized

C280TF16

15

BC-05-018

TULC 350ml Pressurized

C350TF16

16

BC-05-019

aTULC 350ml 206End

B350TL16

17

BC-05-020

aTULC 500ml 206End

B500TL16

Fig.4 Qualification of EcoLeaf Labels (as of Feb. 2006)

JLCA News Letter No.3

4

TULC (Steel can)aTULC (Aluminum can)TEC (Steel can)Case Study
LCA Information Disclosure Using
Eco-Leaf Environment Labels
1. Introduction

EcoLeaf type III environmental labeling program
Office,Japan Environmental Management
Association for Industry (JEMAI)

year since its inception in 2002. The number of label registrations
and disclosures is increasing firmly and has reached 429 cases(cumulative total of 554 cases) as of the end of February 2007, with47 companies disclosing the labels. Even the product classes
have increased in number and reached 53 product classes, andeven materials and intermediate products are increasing (Fig. 1
and Table 1). In this paper, we discuss the outlines of what factors
have to be considered when a company is implementing LCA for
the first time and is disclosing its information. Further, we also
discuss how the Eco-Leaf helps in this context.

LCA is used as a method of evaluation when a company is
reducing the environmental load over the life cycle of a product orservice through environmentally conscious design. At the sametime, a large number of companies also have the intention of
disclosing the result of LCA as environmental information. There
are various purposes for such disclosure by companies such as
publicizing the corporate philosophy, distinguishing fromcompeting companies, etc., but one of the fundamental purposes
is to present the users with LCA information as the productenvironmental information, and to make the customers buy
products that are environment friendly. Even if a product isdesigned friendly to the environment over its entire life cycle, thoseenvironmental considerations will not be realized if that product is

2. Factors to be Considered at
the Time of LCA Information Disclosure

not sold. At this time, communication using product environmental
information is necessary between the company and thepurchasers. As a tool of disclosing such LCA information, the typeIII environmental label in Japan, the Eco-Leaf, has entered its fifth

Fig 1 Registered Eco-Leaf
by Product Categoly(As of Feb,2007)

Masayuki Kanzaki

Use of LCA can be considered in various phases of environmental
conscious design by a company such as determining the major
environmental aspects at the initial stages of development, orLarge format
printer, 7Water meter
box , 5

Noteboo kComputer, 7EP(Electrophot
ographic
Printer ) and( I J(Ink Jet
printer , 76
Electrophotogr
aphic Dry
Process, Photocopier49

Others, 57
Single - Use
Camera, 7Current ratio by product category- Digital PrinterDuplicator , 1 0Interphone ,11,Data Projector
40

Paper
container forbeverage ,12Personal
conputer andMonitor, 31

Network
Camera, 2 0

Table 1 Registered Eco-Leaf by
Product Categoly Others(As of Feb,2007)

JLCA News Letter No.3

Digital Camera
25 ,Telephone , 19

Product Cate gory

,Beverage can29Facsimile , 24

No ofProduct Cate gory

No of

Flatbed/Sheet-fed scanner

5

High voltage board switch gear2

Instant Photo Printer4

Analog Camera

1

PBX system

4

Bidet Toilet Seat

1

Foamed polystyrene sheet

4

Structural Aggregate

1

Small format photo printer4

Grid Electricity

1Electronic board

3

Drain Ditch Cover

1

Free access raised floor

3

Photo Print Scanner1

Low-voltage motor control center

3

Save Electricity Equipment for Fax

1

Tile carpet

3

Wholesale electricity

1

PS foam insulation material

2Electronic voting system

1

Thermal transfer card printer2

Internet data server system

1

Optical Disc Drive

2

POS terminal

1

Touch and close fastener

2

Industrial chai n

1

Water meter unit

2

5Case Study

verification of the effect of environment conscious design, etc. The
outlines of the items to be considered at the time of actively
disclosing the results of these LCA to the purchasers are
discussed below.

companies and purchasers have started environmental
communication using LCA information, and it is necessary to
promote its widespread use further.
3. Features of Eco-Leaf
As can be seen from the above overview, while it is necessary toconsider various aspects when a company implements LCA, westudy in the following how Eco-Leaf is being useful in these
aspects.

LCA implementation standard for information disclosure
For the purchasers to select and buy environment friendly
products, instead of information such as image advertisements, itis necessary to provide LCA information of the product such as
how much environmental load is generated concretely for each unitof the individual product or service, how much the environmental
performance has improved of the product that has appeared in themarket, etc. When such quantitative information is disclosed to thepurchasers, it is important that such information is based on LCA
implementation standards with a certain level of concreteness.

(1) Product Category-wise Standards for LCA Information
Disclosure
One of the important schemes of Eco-Leaf for enhancing thereliability of LCA information disclosure is the product categoryrule. In the international standard ISO 14025 (issued in 2006), in
the type III environmental declaration program including the EcoLeaf, product category rules (PCR) were prepared after
discussions among the parties having interests and disclosure ofenvironmental declarations are to be carried out based on these.
The Eco-Leaf is different from independent LCA of companies
themselves in that it uses rules that are prepared based onconsensus among companies. The rule proposals are prepared
upon discussion among interested parties such as industry
organizations, companies, etc., and the product category rules of
Eco-Leaf are discussed and approved by a committee consistingof knowledgeable persons such as persons with academic
experience, representatives of consumer organizations, LCA
experts, etc.

Implementation of LCA
For a company, it is efficient to form beforehand a system insideand outside the company having several functions of data
gathering, data processing, data verification, and also LCA
information disclosure, etc. While it is relatively easily possible tocollect data directly of the assembly processes within thecompany, very often it is difficult to gather directly the upstream
data in the supply chain.
Objectivity of information
The receiver of LCA information can accept the information withreassurance if it has been verified by a third party. Even if acompany is trustworthy for a consumer, verification by a third party
further enhances the reliability of the information. In addition, acompany can extract from the LCA information the points that canbe presented as effect of environment conscious design anddisclose it as an environmental report, etc. At this time, if it can beindicated that the information has been verified by a third party,
then the power to convince the consumers gets enhanced.

There are two main purposes of product category rules. One
purpose is to disclose to the readers various preconditions andassumed conditions associated with the LCA information alongwith the LCA information. The Eco-Leaf information is a pair withthe product category rules, and the readers can refer to the
product category rules corresponding to each label whenevernecessary in the homepage.

Format of LCA Information Disclosure
When large purchasers such as government bodies andpurchasing departments of companies read the LCA information
for purchasing, it is convenient if that information is formatted in an
organized manner and if it is possible to read the information forvarious types of products in a single web site. The products are
not only end products. There are increasing numbers of cases ofmanufacturers of materials and intermediate products transmitting
LCA information to end-product manufacturers. Even in such cases
formatting is important. In addition, when common consumers
read the LCA information, since they are not used to the concept of
LCA and since the volume of information is large, it is important toformat the LCA information so that the most important result in the
LCA information is communicated first and then the intricate details
are given to the reader as necessary.

Another purpose is to make the LCA methods, etc. standardized.
When we take the point of view of increasing the ability of the LCA
information to be shared, or of preventing confusion of the reader
when seeing the Eco-Leaf labels of several products, in general, it
is can be considered desirable to make the LCA methods or the
background data, etc., common for each product category. For
example, if strong commonness is carried out such as fixing theregion of directly gathered data, limiting the background data only
to specific common base units, limiting the logistics or disposal
recycling scenario to one, etc., it becomes clear that thedifferences in the data between different product labels has its
origins in the directly gathered data. However, such strong
commonness measures are not necessarily suitable for productenvironmental information. This is because, as the commonness
becomes stronger, the extent of the gap between the reality of
product life cycle and the common rules becomes widely different
for each product, and the considerations of the company towards
the environment may not be expressed due to being tied by thecommon rules. On the other hand, if these common rules are
removed and it is made possible to prepare the rules under freestandards, it may be possible to express detailed numerical values

Spreading of LCA
In order to constitute a sound material-cycle society, it is necessary
to nurture the product market based on the communication of LCA
environmental information and to make to take root firmly in thesociety. It is difficult to get the ordinary consumers to accept
results of LCA as concrete information rather than just giving a
fuzzy image of being “kind to the environment”. Advanced
JLCA News Letter No.3

6

Case Study

according to the environmental considerations for each product.
However, in this case, since there are more causes for differencesin the data of the product labels, it becomes difficult to interpretthem. In other words, in one aspect, there is a tradeoff relationshipbetween increasing the commonness in the LCA method and thebackground data and the ability of LCA to express in detail;therefore it is necessary to adjust where to achieve a balance
between them. This adjustment is being done in the case of the
Eco-Leaf through the process of adopting the product categoryrules. Regarding generic data, in Eco-Leaf, although at present
about 148 types of generic data have been prepared for the entire
program, apart from these, it is also possible to use generic datathat are common only within the product class and generic data
special for each product. In addition, through revisions of therules, it is possible to reflect as needed the trends of the producttechnology, trends in the LCA research, and the needs of thesociety.

based on system certification. System certification consists ofverifying whether or not the business has maintained a system ofcollecting quantitative environmental information data, andexamining and certifying whether that system has appropriate,valid, and continuing functions. If system certification is obtained,
external verification for obtaining each label thereafter becomes
unnecessary. In this case, the company does not have to consider
the timing of the panel examination necessary for third party
verification, and has the advantage of being economicallybeneficial when issuing a large number of labels. In the case ofinternal verification based on system certification, the third party
nature of the individual label verifications are assured by thesystem examination carried out every three years.
(4) Contributions in Spreading LCA among Purchasers
As was explained in the beginning, while on the one hand LCA isused as an evaluation tool for gradually reducing the environmentalload during development, on the other hand the purpose oftransmitting environmental information at the time of purchasing is
growing in importance. This is because, in order to realize thereduction of the environmental load over the entire life cycle,
participation of the purchaser is also becoming important inaddition to the participation of the companies themselves. EcoLeaf is a tool for such environmental information transmission. The
purchasers actively utilizing Eco-Leaf are not only the large scaleprocurers such as companies and governmental bodies but also
the so-called green consumers who are the ordinary consumers
having high environmental awareness, and this has become themotive force behind the dissemination of Eco-Leaf. On the other
hand, for the majority of ordinary consumers, it is necessary to
introduce afresh the concept itself of life cycle of products andservices that are the basis of Eco-Leaf. Conversely, again, in orderto propagate the concept of life cycle, the Eco-Leaf is a very goodtool as it is concrete product information that is close to theconsumers. The role of Eco-Leaf is very important as a basis for
spreading the circle of people knowing the concept of life cyclefrom advanced purchasers to ordinary consumers, such as the
Eco-Leaf activity of product information reports in the media orseminars of green procurement aimed at ordinary consumers.

(2) Support of LCA Implementation Through Eco-Leaf Base
Units and Dedicated Software
As a rule, Eco-Leaf takes the entire life cycle as the target of
evaluation. However, even if the directly gathered data of the
upstream side cannot be obtained, if only the weight for eachconstituent element in the parts table is calculated, there is a
simplified LCA scheme of assigning them respectively to the EcoLeaf generic data. In addition, the Eco-Leaf data is divided into
disclosed part and non-disclosed part, and when a company
prepares the label, it first enters the information of the parts list or
the directly gathered data obtained within the company in the nondisclosed part. Once the non-disclosed data is input, most of theparts of the disclosed label are generated automatically by thelabel preparation supporting system (dedicated software).
Compared to the type III environmental label programs of othercountries, the format and the entered items of the Eco-Leaf are
relatively unified. This not only is easy to read for the readers, butalso leads to simplification of the work of preparing the labels, andto making the work of verification efficient. In addition, from thepoint of view of ease of reading, at the stage of verification andjudgment, verification is also made as to whether or not theexpression in the label is easy for the reader to understand, andimprovements are made as and when necessary.

4. Conclusion
In this paper, we have described the features of Eco-Leaf from thepoint of view of whether the Eco-Leaf environmental label is beingof use when disclosing LCA information to the purchasers of
products and services. In addition, it is recommended to refer tothe homepage of JEMAI given below for details of the overall
scheme of Eco-Leaf, the procedure of obtaining the label, etc.
http://www.jemai.or.jp/english/ecoleaf/index.cfm
Inquires can also be emailed to:ecoleaf@jemai.or.jp(3) Achieving both third party verification and speed-cost oflabel acquisition
A certain time and cost are needed for data verification in order toassure objectivity of the information in a type III environmental
label. In the Eco-Leaf, each Eco-Leaf label prepared by acompany is subjected to third party verification by an external
inspector, and the result of that verification is judged by areviewing panel after which the label is registered and laid open to
the public. This mechanism is being called external verification.
However, it goes without saying that the time and cost involved in
issuing a product label is very important for a company, and there
will be problems particularly when there are a large number of
products that a company desires to be disclosed. In view of this,in Eco-Leaf, as another verification route other than externalverification, another system is prepared of internal verification
JLCA News Letter No.3

7

Review
The Eco Mark Program and Product
Life Cycle Assessment
1. Introduction

Eco Mark Office
Japan Environment Association

5% to 30% (average of 20%) of the market-leading products
having the same features can meet them.

Eco Mark is an "environmental label voluntarily attached to
products upon approval of third parties" implemented by the Japan
Environment Association since February, 1989. More specifically,
Eco Mark is a part of the "type I environmental label program"standardized as ISO/14024. By attaching "Eco Mark" labels to
products that are recognized as being environmentally friendly due
to reduction of environmental burdens associated with daily life,
the purpose of this program is to freely provide information on theenvironmental aspect of products and to encourage customers
who wish to be environmentally friendly to choose the productswith that label.
The following LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) procedures are used in
the Eco Mark program:(1) Examination of environmental burdens on the entire life cycle
when establishing the product approval criteria ("life cycle
consideration).
(2) Examination of preceding literature based on LCA data during
a special review meeting to solve particular issues.
(3) Examination of creation of new product categories by the LCA
task group.
(4) Estimation of reduction of environmental burdens in the do
mestic market attributed to certain Eco Mark products.
For these LCA procedures in the Eco Mark program, this report will
provide a complete description of (1) and an overview of caseexamples of (2) to (4).

2.2 Assessment of environmental effect of product life cycles
When the WG examine a product, the "product life stage-specificenvironmental effect item selection chart" shown as Table 1 is used
to first identify environmental burden items for each product life
stage, from manufacturing to disposal. This chart is created basedon the abovementioned report[1)] and has almost the samestructure as "an example of a product environmental criteria
selection matrix" which is introduced as an example in JIS Q 14024(ISO 14024).
Then, the WG carries out qualitative or quantitative examinations
on the items that were identified as issues to be examined, anddevelops draft criteria as necessary. Table 1 and Attached
Document 1 are cited from the certification criteria statement of
product category No. 111 "Board Made of Wood or the Like
Version 2.0." In this example, the WG discussed environmental
burden items for the cells with the [O] or [@] symbol in the table
during the course of establishment of the certification criteria, andfor the cells with the [@] symbol, the environment-related
certification criteria were established as a result of the discussion.
The background of establishment of the certification criteria isprovided as "explanation" in the certification criteria statement foreach product category, and in that, as shown below, a summary ofthe discussion regarding individual [O] and [@] symbols (A-1, B-1,
, and F-9) is provided.

2. Product certification criteria statement in the Eco
Mark program

A. Raw material collection phase
A-1 [Consumption of resources] The following points werereviewed under this term:(1) The ratio of reused / unused timber as wooden parts shallbe 100%.
(2)...
As for (1), from the viewpoint of preserving forests througheffective use of non-used resources and re-use of timber, it isdesirable that raw materials for the concerned product are
100% reused / unused timber.
Therefore, this was selected as the item for which the criteria
should be established. As indicated in the terminology, thescope of reused / unused timber has been clarified.
Considering the fact that forests that need to be protected havebeen degrading or they have been shrinking in size due todeforestation taking place faster than forest growth, use andprocessing of unused materials with innovative technologies
are considered meaningful.
As for JIS A 5905 "Fiberboards" and JIS A 5908
"Particleboards," too,...

2.1 Establishment of Eco Mark product certification criteria
Before certifying Eco Mark products, the certification criteria for the"applicable product category" for that product must exist.
In March, 1996, the Eco Mark certification criteria establishment
method underwent major revision in response to the developmentof standardization of environment labels by the ISO and to thereview meeting report by the environment agency[1)]. Currently,
the certification criteria are established in the following manner.
First, the "WG (working group)" for creating draft certification
criteria is established.
In accordance with the ISO's
recommendation that a WG is "where interested parties havediscussions," a WG has a well-balanced member composition of
the suppler of the product undergoing scrutiny (first party),
purchasers (second party), and neutral experts (third party), withapproximately the same number of participants from each party.
The Eco Mark Committee for Establishing Category and Criteria,
which examines the draft criteria developed by the WG andestablishes new criteria, has the same member composition toprovide suppliers consisting of industry members and purchasers
consisting of consumers and environmental NGOs with theopportunities to hold discussions during creation of the draft
certification criteria.
When the product certification criteria were established, it was alsoestablished that the environmental effect of the entire product life
cycle must be considered, as described in Section 2.3. Currently,
the Eco Mark certification criteria have been established such that

JLCA News Letter No.3

Seiji Taguchi

8Review

Table 1 Product life stage-specific environmental effect item selection chart

Environmental burden item

Product life stage
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Raw
Use /
material
Manufacturing Distribution Consumption Disposal
collection

1 Consumption of resources@

2 Release of global warming
substances

O

@
@

O

@

@

F.
Recycling@

3 Release of ozone depleting
substances
4 Impact on ecosystem
5 Releas of air polluting
substances@@

6 Releas of water polluting
substancesO

7 Generation/Processing/
Disposal of waste
8 Use/Release of hazardous
substances@@

9 Otherenviromental burdens

O

@

@

@
@

Although this discussion is not necessarily a quantitative LCA, it isstill a procedure adopted in ISO/14024, and the purpose of the
discussion is to make sure that major environmental burdens are
not shifted to other life stages or other environmental burden items
as they are (in other words, its purpose is to identify "trade-off"
relationships). That is to say that it is necessary to realize
reduction of environmental burdens throughout a product life
cycle. Also, the purpose of providing a summary of a WG
discussion is to disclose the details of the discussion, to identify
the environmental impact of the concerned product, and to show
the types of environmental impact discussed in the Eco Markprogram.

@O(1) a review and discussion meeting regarding handling of paper(appropriateness of setting the level of used paper compounding
ratio as a certification criterion for paper products) and (2) a review
meeting regarding plant-derived plastic and biodegradable plastic(discussion for category assignment) were held recently. Review
committees consist mainly of experts and intellectuals from thirdparty organizations, but those who are from specific industrial
fields or consumer groups are also asked to participate. At
committees, various discussions are held regarding many aspects,
including examination of preceding literature based on LCA data.
For example, at the review meeting regarding paper products
described in (1) above, the items listed as items to be examined
were as follows: /1/ review of environment preservation in terms of
paper products, /2/ current status of domestic distribution of usedpaper pulp, /3/-1 review of the LCA report on domestic paper
products, /3/-2 review of the same for overseas, /3/-3 LCA
application to paper products based on the report, /4/ current
status of sustainable forest certification, and /5/ functional
characteristics required for paper products.

3. Other case examples of application of the LCA
procedures
3.1 Discussions at review meetings regarding certain issues
In the Eco Mark program, special review meetings may be held
upon request by individual WGs or committees in order to assess
the environmental impact of certain issues (topics). For example,
JLCA News Letter No.3@

9

Review

3.2 LCA task group activities regarding creation of new
product categories

4. Summary
In the Eco Mark program, interested parties participate equally,
have discussions and examinations in consideration ofenvironmental burdens on the entire product life cycle, andestablish the product certification criteria. The LCA procedures
are also used for examination of product categories and for
estimation of the amount of reduction of environmental burdens
attributed to certification of Eco Mark products.

Since FY2005, the Eco Mark Committee for Establishing Category
and Criteria conducts preliminary studies based on LCA when
discussing whether or not reuse products that are proposed as
products of new categories can be newly recognized as productsof new categories. For this, as seen in Figure 1, LCA experts arerequested for cooperation, and an LCA examination task group isestablished for examination. Examples of products so far
examined are digital printers, filter cartridges for dust masks, andfluid pumps. For the first two products, certification criteria werecreated based on the report by the task group. For example, in thecase of filter cartridges for dust masks, although unwanted [CO2] isgenerated while cleaning the filter after repeated use of 10 times,
the amount of [CO2] generated per use is approximately 30% ofthat of the disposable version.

Reference
1) Environmental Agency Review Committee: "New Development ofEnvironmentally Sound Products" (1995)
2) Japan Environment Association: "Report on Environment
Preservation Associated with Eco Mark Certified '5 Types of
Stationary' Products" (2005)

3.3 Estimation of the environmental preservation effectof some of the Eco Mark products
For Eco-Mark certified ball-point pens, mechanical pencils,
marking pens, correction tools, and notebooks, the amount of
reduction of environmental burdens in the entire domestic market
in FY2001 was estimated[2)]. Environmental burdens were
measured for a complete life cycle from raw material collection todisposal and recycling, but the major contribution when calculating
the effect was the use of recycled materials that met the Eco-Markcertification criteria. For the four writing materials, compared to
non Eco-Mark certified products, the amount of reduced [CO2] for
Eco Mark products was estimated to be approximately 2,600 tons
per year in total. As for notebooks, the [CO2] reduction effect waslarge when biomass-derived [CO2] was included, but the amountof generated chemical fuel-derived [CO2] was actually increasedfor Eco-Mark certified products.

Figure 1 Function of the LCA task group and positioning in the Eco Mark project<2>
Proposal
Proposalof meaningfulnessof meaningfulnessof reuse by the LCA task group

<1>
LCA
LCA
expertsexperts

Data submission

Proof of a reuse system

Task
group
members
<3>
Task
group
members<4>
EcoEcoMark
Mark
OfficeOffice<5>
Selection
Selection
andandrequestrequestforfordata
data/ scope/ scope
of of
data
data
required
required
forforjudgment
judgment

JLCA News Letter No.3

10

<8>
Power
Power
consumption
consumption
<9>
Parts
Parts
listlist<10>
Material
Material
type
type
<11>
Material
Material
weightweight<12>
Proposing company

Review
Outline of the Life Cycle Assessment
Society of Japan (JLCA) databaseJapan
2.The Federation of ElectricPower Companies of Japan

14. Japan Auto Parts
Industries
Association

Data on product manufacturing , and disposal and recycling
processes is collected as inventory data, and it is characterized by
the fact that, especially for the former, inventory data for major
products is voluntarily collected by various product and industrialorganizations, or industrial associations, as representative data.
As seen in Figure 1, these associations cover a wide range offields, from extraction of resources to materials manufacturing andassembly industries such as automobiles and others. , andtherefore, the data collection instruction manual was prepared sothat inventory data could be gathered using a common method
wherever possible. The basic principle of this instruction was tocollect inventory data of companies belonging to industrial
associations and to calculate the average data. Althoughdepending on products, inventory data was collected from various

Products

Use

Recycling

Waste

Research institute-D

1.Petroleum Association ofParts

1. Inventory data

Research institute-C

Materials

Life Cycle Assessment Society ofJapan (JLCA)

developed based on LIME. Based on these achievements, the
JLCA has continued data update and addition of new data, andhas been operating the database as the domestic LCA
infrastructure.
This article will provide an overview of the inventory data stored ordisclosed in the JLCA database and a brief explanation about
impact assessment data.

In Japan, LCA attracted much attention as an effective method toquantitatively evaluate environmental impacts of products andservices throughout their life cycles, and in October 1995, the
JLCA was established by a large number of intellectuals fromindustry, government and academia with the JEMAI as thesecretariat to actively discuss the methodology, implementation,
and advanced application of LCA. In 1997, "The Ideal LCA andEfforts Made by Industrial Sectors" was created as the policy
statement. This statement described the current situations andissues regarding LCA method development and suggested as
future plans that national level LCA database[1)] development and
LCA method development would be necessary[2)]. In accordancewith this suggestion, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
organized the LCA national project "Product Life Cycle
Environmental Impact Assessment Technology Development (LCA
project)" started[3)] from 1998 as a 5-year plan.
The goals of this project were development of the LCA
methodology, collection of high-reliability inventory data created byindustrial associations, and development of a network system, andresearch and development was carried out in order to provide ahighly-reliable infrastructure for LCA implementation.
In addition to collection of inventory data regarding productmanufacturing, and disposal and recycling processes, in the LCA
project, characterization coefficients and damage coefficients were

Resourcesand energy

Ryosuke Aoki

15. Japan Automobile Manufactures
Association, Inc.
16. The Japan Society of Industrial
Machinery Manufacturers
17. Building Contractors Society

3.The Japan Gas Association

4.The Japan Iron and Steel Federation

18. The Japan Electrical Manufacturers' Association

5.Japan Aluminium Association

19. Electronic Industries Association of Japan

6.Japan Mining Industry Association

20. Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association

7.Japan Paper Association

21. Japan Business Machine and Information System Industries Association

8.The Japan Rubber Manufacturers Association

22. Communications and Information Network Association of Japan

Research institute-A, B

23. Japan Industrial Association of Gas and Kerosene Appliances
9. Japan Chemical
Industry
10. Association Japan
Cement Association
11. Flat Glass
Manufactures
Association of Japan
12. Japan Chemical
Fibers Association
13. Japan Refractory
Association

Figure 1 Industrial associations participating in the inventory study group and their responsibilities
JLCA News Letter No.3

11

Review

Collection data
inputted into /outputted fromeach unit process

Integration of thedata into data
inputted into /outputted from thesubsystem

Unit
process

Unit
processMore specifically, as shown in Figure 2, each industrial associationcompiles input / output data of unit process from its member
companies into one block of subsystem data, and voluntarily
provides inventory data on product manufacturing as an"integrated database." Each industrial association thus controls its
own inventory data system boundaries, and supports "Gate toGate" to the extent it can be responsible for it. Therefore, there is afully functional mechanism in which industrial associations canvoluntarily update the data at any time.
In the LCA project, 54 industrial associations provided a total of
approximately 280 items of subsystem-based inventory data. The
target here was to collect data on 14 substances (atmosphere:[CO2], [CH4], HFC, PFC, [N2O], [SF6], NOx, SOx, and soot anddust; hydrosphere: BOD, COD, total phosphorus, total nitrogen,and suspended solids) as emission items, and as a result of
examination of the items by the industrial associations,approximately 70% of emission item data was provided on
average.
The JLCA has been publishing data collected from these industrial
associations as a database since FY2003, and based on theirapproval of this voluntary data provision system, the JLCA has also

Electronic data

Subsystem

Unit
process

Unit
process

Unit
process

Unit
process

Data input
softwareFigure 2 Overall flow of data collection

products collectively accounting for at least 60% of the production
share of each product. As a result, highly-reliable backgrounddata was collected domestically.

Table 1 Examples of inventory items collected by industrial association
INDUSTRIALASSOCIATION

INDUSTRIALASSOCIATIONCOLLECTED INVENTORY ITEMSPetroleum Association Crude oil, Bunker A, Bunker C, diesel oil,of Japancoal oil, car gasoline, naphtha, and asphalt

Japan Refractory
Association

COLLECTED INVENTORY ITEMS
Burnt fire-proof brick, unburned fire-proof
brick, refractory product, and castablerefractory
44 automobile parts

The Federation ofElectric Power
Companies of Japan

Electric power (domestic average, power
supply specific, and for daytime or fornighttime)

Japan Auto Parts
Industries Association

The Japan Gas
Association

City gas and LNG

Japan Automobile
Manufactures
Association, Inc.

The Japan Iron andSteel Federation

Shaped steel, thick plate, reinforcing steel,electrogalvanized steel, hot-dip galvanizedsteel, hot-rolled steel, cold-rolled steel, tin
free steel, tin plate, wire rod, special steel,stainless steel, gas pipe (seamless), welded
pipe, steel and iron products for building,and coke
Aluminum extrusion: pipe product; aluminum
extrusion: shaped product; aluminum
extrusion: rod product; and aluminum plateproduct

SK ovens, SK stoves, gas water heaters,
Japan Industrial
Association of Gas and water heaters for baths, gas fan heaters,
Kerosene Appliances table-top stoves, hot-water dispensers, oilJapan Aluminium
Association

Japan Mining Industry Copper, lead, and zinc
Association

1500cc sedan car, standard driving

water heaters, bath tubs with oil water
heaters, oil fan heaters, hot-water oil burners,
open oil heaters, vent-system oil heaters, andsemi-open oil heaters

Building Contractors
Society

Building(office building of reinforced concrete)

The Japan Electrical
Manufacturers'
Association
Electronic Industries
Association of Japan

Electric refrigerators
Color televisions, cathode-ray tubes, printed
circuits, LCD devices, passive components,
connectors, semiconductors, and convertedpartsJapan Paper
Association

Paper and paper board

The Japan Rubber
Manufacturers
Association
Japan Chemical
Industry Association

Tires for passenger cars, tires for trucks andbuses, and tires for motorcycles

Japanese Electronic
Industry Development
Association

Notebook PC and desktop PC

Low-density polyethylene, high-density
polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene,
polyvinylchloride, polyethylene phthalate,and expanded polystyrene

Japan Business
Machine andInformation System
Industries Association

Copy machines

Japan Cement
Association

Portland cement, blast furnace cement, fly Communications andash cement, clay, silica, and lime stone
Information Network
Association of Japan
Glass sheet (including laminated safety
glass for automobiles)
The Japan Society ofMobile phones

Flat Glass
Manufactures
Association of Japan

Japan Chemical Fibers Continuous polyester fiber, and tire cord
Association(nylon and polyester)

JLCA News Letter No.3

Industrial Machinery
Manufacturers

12

Pumps (typical model) and fans

Review
been listing the inventory data provided by these participating
industrial associations. Table 1 shows some of the names of theseinventory data provided by the industrial associations. Inventory
data has been provided from the energy industry fields such as
petroleum and electricity, materials industry fields such as iron andsteel and plastics, and the assembly field such as automobile.
Furthermore, since the inventory data as a background databaseprovided from the industrial associations has fields with insufficientdata, as inventory data that can be shared for various products,
data on resource extraction, energy, and transportation, metal andplastic processing stage data, and inventory data on disposal andrecycling processes were surveyed and collected independently in
the LCA project. The data surveyed contains approximately 300
items.
In particular, data for the following items was collected for theinventory data on waste management and recycling sectors, so
called "venous" sector:/1/ The inventory data on incineration and landfills was created asa product and process-derived environmental burden estimation
model based on the analysis of "collection and transportation","waste composition" and "air pollutant" at the time of incineration by

Inventory

Environmental
concentration

municipalities.
/2/ The inventory data on waste and recycling was created forintermediate processing stages for used cars, home appliances,office automation equipment, and construction waste materials bymodeling these processes based on actual measurement data.
/3/ As processes to detoxify materials from landfills at the end of
the flow, heavy metal detoxification processes, in which heavy
metal is separated from incineration fly ash and collected, were
empirically surveyed, and the inventory for the detoxification
processing stage through the wet - type (smelting) processing wasestimated. The target heavy metals here are Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, andHg, and this inventory data will be used as reference data when
implementation of the " venous " system LCI is considered andproper evaluation of the steps after landfill is necessary.

2. Impact assessment database
The domestic damage-calculation type impact assessment
database developed by the impact evaluation method as part of
the LCA project publishes three types of coefficient lists. For
development of these lists:

Category endpoint

Impact category

Concentration ofgreenhouse gases

HCFCs
TCDD

ODS concentration in
the stratosphere

BenzeneToxicant concentrationin the air

Lead
SOx
NOx
Total N
Total P

Ozone depletion
Urban airpollution

Malaria

Basis of human life

Breakbonefever

Human health

Cataract

DALY or YOLL

SkincancerSocial assets

Cancer (other thanskin cancer)

Cost or surplus energy
ergy

Toxicant concentrationin the water

Hazardous chemical
substances

Toxicant concentrationin the soi

Ecotoxicology

Concentration anddeposition amount of
substances that contributeto acidification

Acidification

Terrestrial
living organism

Consumption ofdissolved oxygen

Overabundanceof nutrients

Aquaticorganism

Oxidant concentration

NMVOC
Land

Respiratory organs
illness

Photochemical
oxidant

Oil

Future analysis

Exposure
assessment

Extinct or Affected
Species

Sea-bottom
living organism

Primary
production

Aquatic
resources

Dry weight

Agricultural
products

Wastematerial
Resource
consumption

Copper ore

Material
Energy resource
Damage assessment

Impact assessment

Figure 3 Overview of the damage-calculation type impact assessment system

JLCA News Letter No.3

single index

Ecosystem
Biodiversity

Vegetation

Land use

Waste
material

Single index

Thermal stress

Global warming

CO 2

Safeguard
subjects

13

Creation of asingle index

Review
product systems. Currently, there are approximately a thousand
registered papers., The JLCA adds and registers more papers
every year.

a. Based on a natural scientific approach to quantitatively evaluate
the impact of environmental emission on the environmental
categories such as global warming and the amount of the actual
damage on the safeguard subjects, the characterization coefficient
list for showing the impact on the environmental categories and thedamage coefficient list for showing the amount of impact of theactual damage to the aspects to be protected was created.
b. Also, evaluators weighted affected objects that are to beprotected, and created an integrated coefficient list based on asocial scientific approach for integration.
As a result, the following three coefficient lists were created as thelife cycle impact assessment method based on endpoint modeling(LIME), and they are stored in the database and published.
/1/ As the impact category, the characterization coefficient list for
11 items: global warming, ozone depletion, acidification,
photochemical oxidant, urban air pollution, hazardous chemical
substances, ecotoxicity, eutrophication, land use, resource
consumption, and waste.
/2/ The damage coefficient list for four safeguard subjects (humanhealth, biodiversity, primary production, and social assets).
/3/ The integrated coefficient list in which human health,biodiversity, primary production, and the social assets areweighted and made into a single index.
Figure 3 shows the relationships among target impact categories,
damage, and safeguard subjects.

4. Summary
The JLCA has published the LCA database that mainly contains
the achievements of the LCA project in which research anddevelopment were carried out with the goal of establishing the LCA
infrastructure in Japan as a five-year-plan starting since FY1998.
This database consists of the "Gate to Gate" inventory data
voluntarily provided by industrial associations, the coefficient listsof LIME, and abstracts of LCA references. (Figure 4) After the
LCA project, the second term project (FY2003 to FY2005) was
implemented in order to further spread the LCA method, and now
preparations have been made in order to store various types ofinventory data collected during the course of LCA studies oncommercial products (vending machines, houses, and ICT
devices) and the "venous" system (waste plastic, used home
appliances, used car disposal and recycling processes).
An increasing number of companies now understand andrecognize the importance of LCA, and accordingly, an increasing
number of companies are now using the LCA procedures. At thesame time, expectations for the LCA database cover a wider
scope. For the future, it is necessary to further improve and enrichdata in order to expand the use of the LCA database.

3. LCA reference database
Reference
For the convenience of those who carry out LCA, LCA reference
database is provided together with the inventory and impact
assessment database. The reference database provides summaryof papers, cited from the case studies at the International
Conference on EcoBalance which is held every other year andfrom LCA research papers mainly about product systems
published in major international / domestic academic journals,
covering product systems, objective and target of analyses, andanalysis methods, with the keyword search function. It is possible
to refer to the original papers when carrying out LCA for their own

1) Japan LCA forum "JLCA," online source<http://www.jemai.or.jp/lcaforum/index.cfm>
2) The Japan LCA forum report, edited by the Japan LCA forum,
the Japan Environmental Management Association for Industry(1997)
3) The Japan Environmental Management Association for Industry
FY2002 Development achievement report on product life cycle
environmental impact evaluation technology, the New Energy andIndustrial Technology Development Organization (2003)

Inventory database

Impact assessment
database

Authorization by industrial associations

LCA database

Characterization
coefficient list
Approximately
300 items on
recycling,transportation,and so on(reference
survey)Protection target
coefficient list

Project survey

54 industrial
associations
Approximately
280 items

Integrated
coefficient list
Explanation ofconcepts andprocedures

Figure 4 LCA database structure
JLCA News Letter No.3

14

Reference
database
International
Conference on
EcoBalanceInt. J. LCA
LCA-related
reports
Other
domesticallypublishedpapersReview
Environmental Database
Based on an Input-Output Table
1. Introduction

Environmental Technology Laboratory,
Corporate Research & Development
Center, Toshiba Corporation

production processes of imported materials is outside the target
range.
The percentage of import of natural resources isparticularly high in Japan and almost all natural resources areimported, and the production technologies and industrial
structures of the countries producing the natural resources, etc., islargely different from that of Japan. Therefore, the probability isvery high that the embodied intensities of environmental load
calculated using a model limiting the evaluation scope to within
Japan (the non-competitive import type model) or the model
assuming that all imported goods are produced within Japan (thecompetitive import type model) are far separated from theactuality.

For product designers who are not professionals in LCA (Life Cycle
Assessment), life cycle inventory (LCI) analysis is a very timeconsuming task, and in order to implement LCI efficiently, acomprehensive environmental database is absolutely essential.
With this background, at Toshiba, we have been developing
independently an environmental database using the Input-Output
table (IO table). Further, the database so built is also being sold toparties outside Toshiba group as an LCA support tool, the EasyLCA1). The IO table of Japan has one of the highest accuracies in
the world, and is a very useful data source of LCA. Since theToshiba group is having a wide range of businesses fromhousehold electrical appliances to social infrastructure, the IO
table covering the industrial activity in Japan is extremely useful as
the common background data within the group. In actuality, the
LCA support tool Easy-LCA is being used in various types ofindustries. In this paper, we present an introduction to the LCA
database2) constructed based on the latest year 2000 IO table.
The features of this database are -consideration of environmentalloads overseas, expansion of environmental load items that can becalculated, and extension of IO table categories.

The above problem is interpreted as a problem of the systemboundaries in LCA. In this database, a hybrid method of theprocess analysis method and the IOA method is used for thehandling of imported goods. So far, a method has been
proposed3) of calculating the environmental loads related to themining process and the transportation process abroad based on
the process analysis method, and adding to the environmentalload within Japan based on the IOA method. This method has thefeature that it handles in detail only a specific imported goods.
Since it is impossible at present to consider the processes abroad
for all imported goods, the embodied intensities are obtained by
the process analysis method in detail only for the imported goods
that have a large effect, and the environmental load is calculated
assuming to be manufactured inside Japan for all other imported
goods. In this database, based on the above method, theenvironmental loads overseas are obtained by the process
analysis method for aluminum ingot, iron ore, copper ore, lead ore,zinc ore, coking coal, steam coal, crude oil, LNG, and LPG, andwere added to the environmental load within Japan. Due to therestrictions on the data, the overseas environmental loads takeenergy consumption, CO2, SOx, and NOx as the targets.

2. Features of the IO Table
An advantage of using the IO table is that it is possible to calculate
the embodied intensities of environmental load related to all goods
and services within the country. There are two known methods of
LCI analysis, namely the process analysis method and the inputoutput analysis method (hereinafter referred to as the IOA method).
The process analysis method is the method of calculating theenvironmental load by collecting and summing the inventory data
covering all the processes in the system being evaluated.
Theoretically, although the data prepared based on the process
analysis method is data with good accuracy and reflects the actual
situation, collecting inventory data for all the processes is
extremely difficult, and actually the range that can be covered istaken as the defining the boundaries of the system. Therefore,
there is no uniformity in the system boundaries of the base unit
data prepared by the process analysis method, and thearbitrariness of setting the system boundaries is considered to be
problematic. According to the IOA method, all the processes
entered in the IO table are covered, and the system boundaries in
embodied intensities of environmental load of all goods andservices will be identical. In addition, by constituting the embodied
intensities of environmental load of each and every good andservice, since it is possible to restrict to the minimum amountnecessary the inventory data to be collected at the time of
implementing LCA, the labor and cost of conducting LCA can be
reduced.

3.2 Target Environmental Load Items
Table 1 shows the environmental load items that are the target of
this database. In a large number of LCA evaluation examples thatused the IOA method so far, the attention is focused on the amountof energy consumption and the amount of CO2 emission as theenvironmental loads. While these two are the typical indices, they
only take one aspect of the environmental loads. This databasetakes as the target a total of 30 types of environmental loads
including the amount of energy consumption and the amount of
CO2 emission (Table 1). The extension of the inventory items leads
to aggregation of environmental impacts due to the life cycle
impact assessment method (LCIA). In recent years, because aJapanese version of the endpoint type of LCIA method4) has beendeveloped, it has become possible to integrate various types ofenvironmental loads, and to evaluate as a single index. If LCIA is
to be implemented, it is advantageous if there are a large numberof inventory items that can be calculated.

3. Features of the Database
3.1 Environmental Load Overseas
On the other hand, even the IOA method is not omnipotent, andrequires care in handling the environmental load abroad. While theIO table is a matrix that covers all the industries inside Japan, the

JLCA News Letter No.3

Yoshinori Kobayashi

15Review

Table 1 List of inventory items in the environmental database

Category
Output

Input

Item

Atmosphere(8 categories)

CO 2 , SOX , NOX, PM, HFC, HFC23, PFC, SF6

Hydrosphere(5 categories)

BOD, COD, SS, T-N, T-P

Energy (3 categories) Crude oil (fuel), coal, natural gas
Resource(13 categories)

Energy (1 category)

Crude oil (raw material), iron,copper, aluminum,
lead, zinc, manganese,nickel,chromium, sand, rocklimestone, wood
Energy consumption (amount of heat generated)calculate the accurate embodied intensities of environmental load.
Further, as a rule, the subdivision of IO sector classifications isbased on the proportion of amounts of money. Correcting data ofeach GHG production process using the process analysis method
further increases the accuracy.

3.3 Extension of IO Classifications
The IO table is a matrix that consolidates various goods andservices into about 400 sectors, and since each sector iscomposed of several goods, the embodied intensities ofenvironmental loads based on the IO table is calculated as anaverage value of several goods. In cases in which the emission
source is only due to a specific good included in a particular IO
sector, the embodied intensity of environmental load with a large
error is calculated, and hence there will occur allocation errors.

Further, the embodied intensities calculated from the IO table are
the amount of environmental load per unit money amount, and isconstituted of 405 sectors . By using the unit price of the good andservice given in the IO table5) it is possible to calculate theembodied intensities of environmental load in physical units. In
this database, based on this thinking, about 4000 types of
embodied intensities are being prepared.

In this database, in order to improve the accuracy of the embodied
intensities of environmental loads, the IO sectors have been further
subdivided. In the current IO sector classifications, although thesectors whose amounts of use or market sizes are small are notprepared as independent IO sector classifications, by making
them into a sector it is possible to handle clearly the goods having
a large environmental impact even if their amount of use is small.
In this database, in order to increase the accuracy of theembodied emission intensities of greenhouse gases (GHG), therelated IO sector classifications were subdivided further
independently. Although the IO sectors is aggregated to 399
sectors by making the square matrix, based on the above thinking,by subdividing the IO sectors related to GHG emission, thesehave been expanded to 405 sectors. In addition, regarding thesubdivided GHG related IO sectors, by limiting the destinations of
their input to sectors related to GHG emission it is possible to

JLCA News Letter No.3

4. Data Sources
Although the method of calculating the embodied intensities ofenvironmental load based on the IO table is described in moredetail in other literature6), the estimation of the environmental load
generated directly in each IO sector classification is the mostimportant one. In this database, the amounts of environmentalloads for each IO sector classification are being estimated by
combining various types of statistics shown in Table 2.

16

Review

Table 2 Data sources for the environmental database

Data
Energy and resource
consumption
Emissons toatmosphere

Energyconsumption(asa fuel)Sources
IO Table (IO table on values and quantities)7),Yearbook of
Minerals and Non-ferrous metals statistics 20008),others
IO Table (IO table on values and quantities)7),Yearbook of
Minerals and Non-ferrous metals statistics8), The Structural
Survey of Energy Consumption in Commerce andManufacturing 9)

Emissioncoefficients

Ministry of Environment 10), others

Emissionsoutside Japan

IEA11), others

Emissions to hydrosphere

Ministry of Environment12) , others

5. Conclusion

99, 1999.
4) N. Itsubo and A. Inaba: "Life cycle impact assessment method,
LIME-LCA environmental accounting, evaluation method anddatabase for eco-efficiency", Japan Environmental Management
Association for Industry, 2005
5) Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications: 2000 InputOutput Tables - Data Report (1) -Table on Domestic Products
by Sector and Commodity, 2004
6) K. Nansai and Y. Moriguchi: "Practical determination of sectoral
environmental burdens applied to input-output analysis", J.
LCA, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp22-41, 2006
7) Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications: 2000 InputOutput Tables -Data Report (2)- IO table on values andquantities, 2004
8) Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry: "Yearbook of Minerals
and Non-ferrous metals statistics 2000", 2002
9) Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry: "The Structural
Survey of Energy Consumption in Commerce and Manufacturing
2000", 200210) Ministry of Environment: "Guidelines for method of calculating
greenhouse gases for businesses (2003)", 2003
11) IEA: Energy Balances of non-OECD Countries 2000 - 2001-,
2003 Edition
12) Ministry of Environment: "Survey of Emissions to Hydrosphere2000", 2004

In this paper, we have introduced the environmental database
based on IO table developed by Toshiba. At the present time, thisdatabase is of the largest size in terms of the number of embodied
intensities and the number of environmental load items as anenvironmental database based on the IO table of the year 2000.
The environmental database based on IO table is very useful fromthe point of view of uniformity of data and reducing the labor
involved in implementing LCI, and by carrying out themodifications mentioned above, the usefulness of the IO table isconsidered to become still more enhanced. However, theenvironmental database based on IO table will have to be used,supposing their uncertainties. In recent years, although the hybrid
method that combines the process analysis method and the IOA
method is attracting a lot of attention, the accuracy of LCA result
gets improved by a large amount by using the IO table data as
only background data and by collecting the accurate foregrounddata of the target system of evaluation. It is hoped that this paper
is helpful in understanding IO table database.

References Cited
1) Toshiba Plant Systems & Services Corporation
2) Y. Kobayashi et al: Proc. of EcoDesign2005, 2B-3-1S, 2005
3) H. Hondo et al: Actual Estimation of Environmental Burdens withan Input-Output Table -Fuel Consumption of I-O Sectors andImported Goods-, Energy and Resources Vol. 20, No. 1, pp93-

JLCA News Letter No.3

17

Review
AIST-LCA Database

Kiyotaka Tahara
Research Center for Life Cycle Assessment
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology

1. Introduction

This database contains chemical products that are mainly
associated with resin products. As seen in Table 2-1, resin
products refer to 54 kinds of resins and rubber products. Whensemi-manufactured chemical products and basic chemical
products that are necessary for producing the resin products
mentioned above are added, a total of 313 products constitute theinventory database.
Many of the chemical plants that produce these products
simultaneously generate both electric power and steam toefficiently provide energy for various processes.
In theconventional database, however, the amount of electric power
used is represented as system power data, and the amount ofsteam used is represented as heavy oil boiler data. In order tocarry out more accurate analysis, it is necessary to take in-house
power generation into account. Therefore, in order to take inhouse power generation at chemical plants into account, weestimated environmental burdens of electric power and steam byusing statistical data. Also, we developed chemical productbackground inventory data while taking into account the burdens
associated with processing of emission, which is obtained fromprocess analysis data.

The LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) procedure is now widely known
and used as one of the methods to evaluate environmental
compatibility of products. As the LCA develops, the necessity forfurther advanced analysis increases, and therefore, an increase in
the volume of data for the background database and elaboration ofdata are required. For this reason, we developed chemical
product inventory data from the process analysis data, and also
developed iron-and-steel product inventory data from iron-andsteel-related statistical data. In addition, we collected inventory
data regarding waste disposal from various papers, reports, andinterviews, and summarized it as a background database. These
data can be analyzed by AIST-LCA Ver.4 (JEMAI-LCA Pro), andpart of the data belongs to studies outsourced by the Japan
Environmental Management Association for Industry (JEMAI). This
article provides an overview of how to develop data for individual
databases. Refer to the optional data package available fromJEMAI.

2. Chemical products

Table 2-1 Chemical product list
ABS (flame-proof)

Poly urethane (fo amed)

Polyvinyl chloride emulsion

ABS resin

Polyether polyol

Methacrylic resin[r] butyl ether melamine resin

Polyester polyol

Melamine resin (syrup)

MBS resin

Polyethylene terephthalate PET

Vinylidene chloride resin

n-buty l ether melamine resin

PolyolHigh-density poly ethylene (HDPE)

Ionomer resin

Polycarbonate

Linear low-d ensity polyethylene

Acr ylonitrile styrene resin

Polystyrene (general purpose)

Low-density polyethylene

Ethylene methacrylic acid copolymer

Polystyrene (impact-resistant)Urea resin (syrup 65%)

Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer

Polys tyrene (flame-proof)

Expanded polystyrene (EPS)

Epoxy resin

Polytetrafluoroethylene

Unsaturated

polyester

resin(dissolution and poly merization)
Nylon 6

Polyvinyl alcohol

Denatured PPO

Nylon 66 ( fiber)

Polyphenylene ether resin

Polyacrylonitrile fiber

Phenol resin

Poly phenylene sulfide

Carbon fiber (PAN sy stem)

Hexane copolymer

Polybutylene terephthalate

Carbon fiber (pitch system)

Polyacry lonitrile

Polybutene -1

Eth ylene-propylene-diene
terpolymer

Poly acetal

Polypropylene

Butadiene rubber latex

Polyimide

Polymethylpentene

Butyl rubber

Polyurethane (flexible)

Polyvi nyl chloride

Polybutadiene

JLCA News Letter No.3

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Review

2.1 How to develop datain eight business categories corresponding to intermediate
industry categories. By effectively using the above-mentioned
statistical data, we obtained the amount of energy used for inhouse power generation and steam production for individual
industry category subtypes, and then calculated their respective
environmental burdens.

2.1.1 In-house power generation
To consider in-house power generation, it is first necessary toobtain the ratio of the amount of in-house power generation withrespect to the amount of power consumption as well as the amountof energy consumption for each type of energy associated withsteam production. It is also necessary to allocate the steam
produced by boilers to the purposes of in-house power generationand production processes. In this database, the steam volume forboth in-house power generation and for production processes isobtained based on the statistical values provided for industry
categories corresponding to individual products. For this, it isnecessary to know the volume of fuel consumption, in-housesteam-power generation, and volume of steam for individual
industry category subtypes, and the industrial statistics "FY2000
The Structural Survey of Energy Consumption in Commerce andManufacturing (commerce and industry) 1" published by the
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry provides data on energy
type-specific consumption volume for individual industry category
subtypes. The "FY2000 Yearbook of the Current Survey of Energy
Consumption 2" provides the amount of steam consumed for inhouse power generation, production processes, and other reasons

2.1.2 Handling of discharge
Discharge from chemical product manufacturing processes may
be gas, fluid, or solid, and depending on the form, various types ofhandling are applied as shown in Table 2.
For the processing method with the "[O]" symbol, we developed adischarge processing calculation program to develop data foreach process. Data have not been developed for other processing
methods as no particular processing is required or discharge isprocessed where it is used. A waste gas incineration tower and an
incinerator directly burn waste gases, waste fluids, and solid
substances at a high temperature, while in catalytic combustion
waste materials are burned at a low temperature by using acatalyst instead of flames. In both cases, the amount of discharge
was calculated based on the amount of flammable carbon,

Table 2-2 Types of discharge handling
Form

Processing

Gas

Vent (no processing)

Non-toxic gas (CO2,N2H2O,and so on), air emission

Waste gas incineration When the gas is flammable and the combustion gas
not toxi
tower
Incinerator

When post-combustion removal processing is neccesary

Catalytic combustion

To burna small amount of flammable materials containedin the waste gas

Use as fuelWaste fluid

Incinerator

Flammable waste fluid

Use as fuel
Valuable resource
collection
Wastewater

Pretreatment

Filtration, neutalization, and static separation

Activated sludge

Discharge treated water, and incinerate waste sludge

treatment
Solid

Regeneration

Dgradation cataryst

Incinerator

Flammable solid substancess, detoxification if neccessary

Disposal

Waste catalyst, waste absorbent, waste plaster, sulfate
iron, and so on

Aqueous dissolution

Waste salt

(wastewater treatmen)

JLCA News Letter No.3

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Reviewhydrogen, and sulfur contained in the discharge to be processed(burned) and the fuel. The amount of nitrogen was not used in thecalculation since products change in a complicated way
depending on combustion conditions. As for the wastewater
treatment, the activated sludge treatment is carried out after a
pretreatment such as dissolution, neutralization, static separation,and filtration. At a chemical plant, instead of treating each type ofgenerated wastewater separately, all types of wastewater that canbe treated by the activated sludge treatment are collected in one
activated sludge treatment facility and then treated. After thesewastewaters flow into the activated sludge treatment facility, they
are mixed and diluted to make their concentration adjusted to the
BOD (or COD) concentration which is suitable for the activatedsludge treatment. The amount of agents and power consumed
change proportionally with the amount of wastewater in somecases, while in other cases, the amount of agents and power
consumed change proportionally with burdens. Therefore, we
considered that the power and agent to be used in the activatedsludge treatment of wastewaters (from manufacturing plants andchemical products) should be distributed based on the BOD
loading and the amount of processing of wastewaters treated at
the activated sludge treatment facility. In this study, based on theassumption that a standard activated sludge treatment facility iscapable of processing 300 m3/h at the BOD concentration of 500
mg/l (BOD loading of 150 kg/h), we obtained from the BOD loading
and the volume processing the amount of power and agent
consumed used in the processing of various types of wastewaters.
Through the procedures described above, we developed the
database by adding environmental burdens associated with
discharge treatment to the aspect of manufacturing of chemical
products.
2.2 Summary
As described above, we first obtained input and output data
through process analysis and developed an inventory in which inhouse power generation is taken into consideration in terms of
input of electric power and steam, and in which discharge
treatment is taken into consideration in terms of discharge. This
database covers more than 90% of the resin productmanufacturing volume; therefore, it can be concluded that data are
available for all general-purpose products.
3. Iron-and-steel products
Various types of statistical data mainly from the year 2000 wereused in developion of iron-and-steel material inventory data, andwe calculated and tabulated the inventory in accordance with theTable 3-1 Iron-and-steel product list
Ferromanganese

Common steel: wire rod (electric furnace)

Special steel: sheet pipe (electric furnace)

Silicon-Manganese

Common steel: medium thick plate

Electric steel sheet

FerrosiliconCommon steel: hot-rolled steel

Surface-treated steel sheet

Ferro chrome

Common steel: cold-rolled steel

Tinned steel sheet (tin plates)

Ferronickel

Common steel: steel pipe

Tin-free steel

Ferromolybdenum

Special steel: shaped steel

Galvanized steel sheet

FerrovanadiumSpecial steel: shaped steel (converter)

Tool steel

Ferrotungsten

Special steel: shaped steel (electric furance)

Carbon steel for structural use

CokeSpecial steel: bar steel

Alloy steel for structural use

Sinteredore

Special steel: bar steel (converter)

Spring steel : ball-bearing steel

PelletSpecial steel: bar steel (electric furance)

Free-cutting steel

Pig iron (blast fumance)

Special steel: wire rod

Hig-tensile steel

Foundry pig ironSpecial steel: wire rod (converter)

Stainless steel : shaped steel

Crude steel (converter)

Special steel: wire rod (electric furance)

Stainless steel : bar rod

Crude steel (electric furnace)

Special steel: thick plate

Stainless steel : wire rod

Common steel:shaped steel

Special steel: thick plate (converter)

Stainless steel : medium thick plate

Common steel:shaped steel(converter)

Special steel: thick plate (electric furance)

Stainless steel : hot-rolled steel

Common steel:shaped steel (electric furnace)

Special steel: hot-rolled steel

Stainless steel (austenite series): hot-rolled steel

Common steel:bar steel

Special steel: hot-rolled steel (converter)

Stainless steel (ferrite series): hot-rolled steel

Common steel:bar steel (converter)

Special steel: hot-rolled steel (electric furance)

Stainless steel: cold-rolled steel

Common steel:shaped steel (electric furnace)

Special steel: cold-rolled steel

Stainless steel (austenite series): cold-rolled steel

Common steel:wire rod

Special steel: steel pipe

Stainless steel (ferrite series): cold-rolled steel

Common steel:wire rod (converter)

Special steel: steel pipe (converter)

Stainless steel: steel pipe

JLCA News Letter No.3

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Reviewiron-and-steel manufacturing process. Table 3-1 shows theinventory data. The inventory is divided into 69 products such thatdata for converter steel, electric furnace steel, and their averagevalues can be examined.

December, 2000) were prioritized over the fiscal year. The
Yearbook of Iron and Steel Statistics is based on the Current
Survey of Iron-and-steel Production and the Current Survey ofEnergy Consumption. In the Current Survey of Iron-and-steel
Production, the major sellers of common steel and all companies
that can be categorized as suppliers of pig iron, ferroalloy, crude
steel, forged steel, cast steel, hot-rolled steel products, cold-finish
steel products, coated steel, cold-roll formed steel, steel pipe, steel
processed products, or cast-iron pipe are all investigated. Basedon the statistical data, the iron-and-steel production process andthe list of production volume for FY2000 are shown in Figure 3-1.
Since the inventory is based on statistical data, the systemboundaries are set at acceptance of raw fuel in the steel industry

3.1 How to develop data
We used mainly the FY2000 Yearbook of Iron and Steel Statistics todevelop the iron-and-steel product inventory. This yearbook has
sections where it cites other statistical materials (the Yearbook of
Mining, Non-Ferrous Metals, and Product Statistics, tables in the
Current Survey of Energy Consumption, and so on), and the values
contained in the cited data were used when developing data.
Also, values developed based on the calendar year (January to

Figure 3-1 Iron and steel production process (the Handbook for Iron and Steel Statistics 2001)

Coal

98,355

15,20931,21324,39097,947

8,849

Other
ferrousmaterials

Lime*

Coke

Iron
ore

SirterPellet

PCI
Coke
oven

10,997(11,080)

26,715

Oxy
gen

COG

(132,381)

Blast
fumaceHot
metal

81,068Light oil

Coal tar

Steel
scrap
1,449

Ferroalloy

Slag

Pig
iron

Lime*

30,771

Mixer

6,832

4,648

823

Steel
scrap

Lime*

Pig
iron

75,924

1.627(4,671)(927)(8,437)

Electric
fumaceLDconverter

30,660Gas

75,784

106,444
2,462

Cas
ting

Hot
steel

426

Ingot

103,557

As
cast

581

As
forged575

SoakingBlooming
mill

Semiproducts

HeatingHeatingWirerollingSpecialrolling

102,687

Sheetrolling

JLCA News Letter No.3

21

Tyres & wheels

38,336

1,128

2,053

Steel pipe

Hot rolled wires

60,408

5,909

Cold roll-formed shape

27,174Coldrolling

Hot rolled sheets

Tin plates

Galvanaized sheets

Other coated steel

2,428 12,873 1,454

Cold rolled sheets

Galvanaizing(7,027)(782)

Rolling

Continuous
castingHeating

Heavy
oil

7,778

47

Review

and at shipment of final steel products as seen in Figure 3-2. As
subsystems, areas surrounded by thick lines are the processes
and products, and areas surrounded by dotted lines areprocessing stages for which the inventory is developed. The solidlines show the flow of main raw materials, and dotted lines show
the flow of major energy related to electric power.
The
components of steel products are adjusted by ferroalloys at thetime of crude steel manufacture in a converter or electric furnace,
but this is not incorporated into the crude steel inventory.
Therefore, in order to incorporate the component composition of
the final steel products into the crude steel inventory, we reviewed
the product yield as slabs and set the amount of ferroalloy inaccordance with the component composition and also the amountof required crude steel (converter / electric furnace).

Figure 3-2 System boundaries and subject products / processes

Receipt

Coal(foke)

Iron
ore

Other
ores

SinterBurt
lime
Burmatdolomite

Ferroalloy

CarbonElectrodeFerrousscrap

Coal(non-coke)

Pellet

Other
fuels

Coke

Privatepower genIron(BF)

Electricity(Iron & steel)Foundryiron

Crude steel(EF)

Cryde steel(LD)

Receivedrawmaterials

Billet,bloom& slab

Process/
products

Considering chemical composition ofsteel and production yield for final
product.(In practice,composition ofsteel is prepared at crude steel
production)

Hot rolling

Froming
process

Cold rolling

Weld(pipe)

Flow of main materials
Flow of main energy

Surfacefinishing

Final products

JLCA News Letter No.3

Electricity

Ordinarysteel(ave)Specialsteel(ave)Ordinarysteel(LD)Specialsteel(LD)

Ordinarysteel(EF)Specialsteel(EF)22

Kinds ofsteel

Review

We developed the data by applying assumptions to the conditions
and individual processes shown above such that they would matchwith the actual processes. More specifically, we developed databy dividing the total volume of material data and fuel data inputted
into each process contained in the statistics by the production
volume to obtain the input volume per kilogram. The data
incorporates joint thermal power and in-house power generation,
too. For development of individual inventories, refer to the
instruction manual of the optional data package.

manufacturing methods (converter steel, electronic furnace steel)and component composition, was developed based on estimates;
therefore, data must be applied with caution. For more precise
LAC, it is possible to use PRTR which is similar statistical data.

4. Waste disposal technology
The disposal and recycling inventory is not fully developed.
As shown in Figure 4-1, there is quite a wide variety of types ofsubject waste such as process waste, used products, and waste
generated in daily living, and their handling can be roughly divided
into waste disposal as final disposal by means of incineration or
landfill, and into recycling and reuse by means of scrapping,sorting, or reproduction.
Waste disposal involves a few kinds of processing and

3.2 Summary
As described above, we developed the inventory based on ironand-steel-related statistical data. Only the burdens associatedmainly with energy consumption are calculated as dischargeburdens in this inventory data. Some data, such as dissolution and

Figure 4-1 Schematic diagram of the disposal and recycling flow

Industrial waste

Municipal waste

Process waste

SludgeOthersConstruction
waste

Used products

Machinery

Building

Electric appliance,
OA equipment

Car

Household waste

Container &packaging

Disassembly & dismantlement
Crushing & separation
Reproduction

Incineration

Incineration

Final disposal

Reuse & recycling

Final disposal

Transportation between processes are not shown.

JLCA News Letter No.3

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Reviewtransportation before the final disposal stage, but all the flows arein the same direction and handling of data does not therefore
cause any problems. Recycling on the other hand can be invarious styles, and handling of data is not simple in terms of LCA
due to distribution problems. More specifically, it is necessary to
clarify how to allocate environmental burdens to outputs to berecycled in order to avoid complications. The software (AIST-LCA
Ver.4 / JEMAI-LCA Pro) is designed to handle these outputs as byproduct materials, by-products, or by-product utilities. Contrary to
the product system (the "arterial" system; flow from raw material
development to production, distribution, and consumption),recycling of used products (the "venous" system; flow from
disposal to collection and recycling) has a diverging data structurethat is made into a wide variety of outputted products (outputs),
and the volume and quality of the products largely depend on
quality of used products to be deployed. Also, types of recyclingof used product, as shown in Figure 4-2, are different between
containers and packages, and assembled products such asmachinery, buildings, cars, and home appliances.
Since
assembled products (consumer durable goods) often consist of alarge number of parts and materials, except for the case of reuse,
these products cannot be considered as materials unless they are
dismantled, scrapped, crushed, or sorted. Meanwhile, containers
and packages have simpler structures than assembled products,
and they can be considered as materials after separation andsorting only. These materials can therefore be considered as raw
materials.

4.1. Approach to data development
This waste-related data package is developed based on thefollowing assumptions.
<Assumptions>/1/ Disposal and recycling process is considered as disposal (Ds).
/2/ Among outputs (recycled items) generated in the disposal andrecycling process, by-product raw materials that do not cause
environmental burdens will be considered as raw materials.

Figure 4-2 Used product recycling flow
Used products

Used products

Elec.Appliance& OA equipment
Component materials (metal, plastic, glass, rubber,paper etc.)

Machinery

Building

Car

Container & packaging
Materials (metal, plastic, glass, paper etc.)

Disassembly & dismantlement

Sorting

Crushing & separation

Resources

Materials

Metallic
resouroes

Glass
resouroes

Paper
resouroes

Metallic
resouroes

Glass
resouroes

Paper
resouroes

Plastic
resouroes

Crushing &separation

Crushing &separation

Crushing &separation

Crushing &separation

Recovring

Recovring

Recovring

Recovring

MetalsGlasses

PapersPlastics

Plastic
resouroes

Recovring

Recovring

Recovring

Recovring

MetalsGlasses

PapersPlastics
etc.

Products

etc.

Reproduction

Reproduction

Reproduction

Reproduction

Reproduction

Recycled
metalsRecycled
glasses

Recycled
papersRecycled
plastics

Recycled
metalsReproduction Reproduction

Recycled
glasses

Recycled
papersReproduction

Recycled
plastics
Chemicals

JLCA News Letter No.3

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Review(Pd). When there are by-products, they can be used in allocation(example: manufacturing of recycled PET flakes). The item /4/ isapplied in the case where applications of the process outputs andsubstances to be substituted are certain, and where environmental
burdens of the relevant substances, not by-product raw materials,
are expected to be deducted (example: evaluate and deduct steel
scrap as accounting for 90% of crude steel). In /5/, by-productutilities such as collected electricity and collected steam can betreated in the same manner as /4/ above.
Since the waste and recycling related inventory changes withquality of the subject waste and used products, it is difficult toorganize it as a general-purpose process. Therefore, in this data
pack, the inventory is considered as energy, sub-resources, andenvironmental burdens that are directly involved with the waste
and recycling processing, and environmental burdens and outputs
that are derived from inputs (waste, used products, and so on) arenot shown. This must be kept in mind when using the inventory
even though there are some examples that show typical values
and mean values. The functional unit of the inventory in principle is
1 kg of inputs for the disposal processing (Ds) and 1 kg of
products for manufacturing processing (Pd) such as recycling
process.

/3/ Recycling using recycled raw materials is considered as
production (Pd).
/4/ Among outputs (recycled items) generated in the disposal andrecycling process, those that can substitute for the existingproducts are considered as by-products, and the substitution rate
must be set. Environmental burdens are to be deducted.
/5/ Among outputs (recycled items) generated in the disposal andrecycling process, utilities are considered as by-product utilities,
and the subject utilities and their substitution rates must be set.
Environmental burdens are to be deducted.
In /1/, the software is designed such that products are not included
as outputs, and process outputs are registered as by-product raw
materials, by-products, or by-product utilities. /2/ has been
mentioned for the convenience of software data processing, andprocess outputs are treated in the standard flow in the samemanner as resources. The quality of outputs of intermediate
processing stages greatly vary and may need further processing.
In this data package, the outputs are treated as by-product raw
materials from the intermediate processing stages. Therefore,
when necessary, in using by-product raw materials, environmental
burdens have to be taken into account. (examples: sizing andsorting by scrap shops, and cleaning and improving of collectedparts). In /3/, many recycling processes share common methods
and handling with manufacturing using new raw materials, andoutputs (recycled products) are often handled as products;
therefore, this recycling processing is considered as production

4.2 Summary
Based on the ideas introduced above, a total of 83 types ofinventory data now exist as shown in Table 4-1, consisting ofreference data and data collected through interviews.

Table 4-1 Disposal and recycling related data
RDF fluff PWMI

Disposal, waste shaft furnace
gasification and fusion NEDO

Disposal, car inermadiate processing
NEDO

RDF pellet PWMI

Disposal, waste incineration(stoker-fired furnace) ash fusion NEDO

Disposal, incineration ash fusion(electric) NEDO

RPF (otherplastics)

Disposal, waste incineration(plastic PET) NRI

Disposal, incineration ash fusion(fuel) NEDO

Recycled PET flakes

Disposal, waste incineration(plastic PO) NRI

Disposal, incineration processing(general wasted) NEDO

Recycled PET flakes (CPBR)

Disposal, waste incineration(plastic PS) NRI

Disposal, incineration processing(wasted plastics) NEDO

Recycled PET resin (for bottles), CR

Disposal, waste incineration(paper) NRI

Disposal, food scrap composting(centraized system)

Recycled PET resin (for fiber), CR

Disposal, waste incineration(fluidized-bed) ash fusion (electric)

Disposal, food scrap composting(distributed system)

Recycled PO fluff

Disposal, waste incineration
processing NRI

Disposal, food scrap disposer
processing

Recycled PO pellet

Disposal, waste incineration andpower genaration (stoker-fired furnace)

Disposal, food scrap methane
fermentation (centrized system)

Recycled PSP tray (lamineted)

Disposal, waste incineration andpower genaration, ash fusion (electric)

Disposal, simple incineration(waste plastic) ASIT

Recycled PS pellet

Disposal, waste incineration andpower genaration, ash fusion (fuel)Disposal, simple incineration(waste plastic) PWMI

Recycled PS pellet (colored)

Disposal, waste direct fusion NEDO

Disposal, intermediate processing(metal can glass bottle manual sorting)

JLCA News Letter No.3

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Review

Table 4-1 Disposal and recycling related data
Recycled PVC gl ash PWMI

Disposal. waste fluidized-bed
furnace gasification and fusion

Disposal. intemediate processing(metal can, glass bottle: sorting)

Recycled PVC crushed item (coursecrushing) VEC

Disposal. waste fluidized-bed
furnace gasification and fusion NEDO

Disposal. intemediate processing(mixed metal can: sortingusing magnet)

Recycled PVC crushed item (finegrinding) VEC

Disposal. super market waste power
ganeration NEDO

Disposal. landfill processing (shredded metal)

Recycled PVC pipe VEC

Disposal. chlorofluorocarbon
destruction processing NEDO

Disposal. landfill processing (general waste) NEDO

Recycled PVC-containing plastic
desalination RPF pellet

Disposal. home appliances advvanced
intermediate processingNEDO

Disposal. landfill processing (weste plastic) NEDO

Recycled PVC floor material m2 VEC

Disposal. home appliances advvanced
intermediate processing (crushingand sorting) NEDO

Disposal. landfill processing (general weste) PWMI

Recycled PVC floor material VEC

Disposal. home appliances advvanced
intermediate processing (crushingand dismantling) NEDO

Disposal. landfill processing(non-combustible residue) NEDO

Recycled used paper pulp (paper
container ) NRI

Disposal. home appliancesintermediate processing NEDO

Wastewater treatment (industrial wastewater)

Recycled plywood panel

Disposal. building site dismantling
NEDO

Sewage processing NEDO

Recycled white PSP tray

Disposal. building mixed waste
crushing and sorting NEDO

PET resin (for bottles) (PWMI)

Recycled distribution pallet

Disposal. volume reduction (PET
bottle, bale) NRI

Tray formation (forming processing)

Combustion (discharge), other waste
PS plastic

Disposal. volume reduction(PSP,bale) NRI

Pallet for mation (formingprocessing)

Combustion (discharge), other waste
plastic

Disposal. volume reduction(aluminum can, press) NEDO

Palastic formation (inflation film) PWMI

Waste plastic, gasification (syntheticgas)

Disposal. volume reduction(aluminum can, press) NRI

Palastic formation (biaxial stretching film) PWMI

Waste plastic, conversion into
cement fuels (chlorine bypass
method) MJ

Disposal. volume reduction (stealcan, press) NEDO

Polystyrene PS (PWMI)

Waste plastic, conversion into
cement fuels (desalination) MJ

Disposal. volume reduction (stealcan, press) NRI

PS film high-density polystyrene forlamination (PWMI)

Waste plastic, conversion into oil(hydrocarbon oil)

Disposal. volume reduction (otherplastic, fluff / bale) PWMI

Packing material (HDPE bag)

Disposal. OA eguipment adovanced
intermediate processing NEDO

Disposal. volume reduction (otherplastic, bale) NRI

Packing material (LDPE)

Disposal. PCB destruction NEDO

Disposal. volume reduction (paper
container, bale) NRI

Low-density polystyrene (PWMI)

inventory data for materials or products. Therefore, for the future, itis necessary to further improve the inventory data mainly for metal
products especially precious metal materials, inorganic chemical
products, and waste disposal. When using the data, it isnecessary to understand how the data were developed and to use
the data that matches the purpose of LCA being implemented.

5. Conclusion
The inventory data developed in this project contains data for only
some of the required materials. Also, the inventory data related todisposal and recycling has been developed much slower than the

JLCA News Letter No.3

26

5th International Conference: LCA in Foods
Apr. 25-26, 2007
Gothenburg, Sweden

Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology
http://www.sik.se/archive/dokument/LCAinfoods.pdf

7th Asia Pacific Roundtable for Sustainable Consumption and Production
Apr. 25-27, 2007
Hanoi, Vietnam.

APRSCP
http://www.7aprscp.com/

International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment
May. 7-10, 2007
Orlando, USAIEEE
http://www.regconnect.com/content/isee/

SETAC Europe 17th Annual Meeting -Multiple stressors for the environment - present and future challenges and perspectivesMay. 20-24, 2007
Porto, Portugal

SETAC
http://www.setaceumeeting.org/porto/home/home.htm

14th CIRP International Coference on Life Cycle Engineering
Jun. 11-13, 2007
Waseda University, Japan

International Academy for Production Engineering
http://cirp-lce2007.jspe.or.jp/

ISIE Conference 2007
Jun. 17-20. 2007
Toronto, Canada

ISIE
http://www.is4ie.org/

Eco-Efficiency for Sustainability - 3rd International Workshop: "Foundations for trade-offs in practical decision making
Jun. 21. 2007
Toronto, Canada

CML, Leiden University
http://www.eco-efficiency-conf.org/

2007 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences
Sep. 4-7. 2007
Las Vegas, USA

ASME
https://www.asmeconferences.org/IDETC07/index.cfm

International Life Cycle Assessment & Management 2007
Oct. 1-5. 2007
Portland, USA

American Center for Life Cycle Assessment
http://www.lcacenter.org/future-inlca.html

Sustainable Innovation 07
Oct. 29-30. 2007
Surrey, UK

Centre for Sustainable Design
http://www.cfsd.org.uk/

World Energy Congress -Rome2007Nov. 11-15. 2007
Rome, Italy

World Energy Council
http://www.rome2007.it/

SETAC North America 28th Annual Meeting-Urban Environmental Issues: Impacts on Ecological SystemsNov. 11-15. 2007
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

SETAC
http://milwaukee.setac.org/

SETAC Europe LCA Case Study Symposium-LCA of Energy - Energy in LCA -Dec. 3-4. 2007¨
Goteborg,
Sweden

SETAC
http://www.setaceumeeting.org/LCA2007/
Planning & Information Sub-Committee:
Mr. Kiyoshi UENO
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
Dr. Norihiro ITSUBO
Musashi Institute of Technology
Mr. Tadashi KOTAKEJapan Automobile Manufacturers Association
Mr. Kiyoshi SAITO
Japan Electrical Manufacturers' Association
Dr. Kiyoshi SHIBATA
National Maritime Research Institute
Mr. Junichi NAKAHASHI Plastic Waste Management InstituteDr. Yasunari MATSUNO University of Tokyo
Editors:
Mr. Ryosuke AOKI JEMAI
Mr. Katsuyuki NAKANO JEMAI
Adddress
Life Cycle Assessment Society of Japan (JLCA)LCA Development Office, JEMAI(Japan Environmental Management Association for Industry)
2-1, Kajicho 2-chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 101-0044
tel: +81-3-5209-7708
fax: +81-3-5209-7716
E-mail: jlca@jemai.or.jp
http://www.jemai.or.jp/english/

JLCA News Letter No.2