23.5.2022
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
L 144/245
In some cases, the use of one product may influence the environmental impact of another, as decribed in the following examples: (a) A toner cartridge is not ‘responsible‘ for the paper it prints on.
But if a remanufactured toner cartridge works less efficiently and causes more paper loss compared to an original cartridge, the additional paper loss should be considered.
In that case, the paper loss is a product-dependent process of the use stage of a remanufactured cartridge.
(b) The energy consumption during the use stage of the battery/ charger system is not related to the amount of energy stored and released from the battery.
It only refers to the energy loss in each loading cycle, which may be caused by the loading system or the internal losses in the battery.
In these cases, only the additional activities and processes should be allocated to the product (e.g. paper and energy for the remanufactured toner cartridge and battery respectively).
The allocation method involves taking all associated products in the system (in this case, paper and energy), and allocating the excess consumption of these associated products to the product which is considered responsible for this excess.
This requires a reference amount of consumption to be defined for each associated product (e.g. of energy and materials), which refers to the minimum consumption that is essential for providing the function.
The consumption above this reference (the delta) will then be allocated to the product (referred to as ‘Delta approach‘) (32).
This approach shall only be used to increase impacts and to account for additional consumption above the reference.
To define the reference situation, the following shall be considered, if available: (a) regulations applicable to the product in scope; (b) standards or harmonised standards; (c) recommendations from manufacturers or manufacturers' organisations; (d) use agreements established by consensus in sector-specific working groups.
The user of the OEF method is free to decide which approach is taken and shall describe the one applied in the OEF report (main function approach or delta approach).
4.4.7.2.
Modelling the use stage Part D of Annex IV provides default data to be used to model use stage activities.
If available, better data should be used, and shall be made transparent and justified in the OEF report.
4.4.8.
R e c yc l e d c o n t e n t a n d e n d o f l i f e m o d e l l i n g The recycled content and end of life shall be modelled using the circular footprint formula (CFF) at the life-cycle stage where the activity occurs.
The following Sections describe the formula and parameters to be used and how they shall be applied to final and intermediate products (Section 4.4.8.12)
4.4.8.1.
T h e c i r c ul a r f o o t p r i n t f or m u l a ( C F F ) The circular footprint formula is a combination of ‘material + energy + disposal’, i.e.: Equation 3 The circular footprint formula (CFF)
(32) Specifications for drafting and revising product category rules (10.12.2014), ADEME.