Conceptual Framework To Extend Life Cycle Assessment Using Near-Field Human Exposure Modeling and High-Throughput Tools for Chemicals

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a decision-making tool that accounts for multiple impacts across the life cycle of a product or service. This paper presents a conceptual framework to integrate human health impact assessment with risk screening approaches to extend LCA to include near-field chemical sources (e.g., those originating from consumer products and building materials) that have traditionally been excluded from LCA. A new generation of rapid human exposure modeling and high-throughput toxicity testing is transforming chemical risk prioritization and provides an opportunity for integration of screening-level risk assessment (RA) with LCA. The combined LCA and RA approach considers environmental impacts of products alongside risks to human health, which is consistent with regulatory frameworks addressing RA within a sustainability mindset. A case study is presented to juxtapose LCA and risk screening approaches for a chemical used in a consumer product. The case study demonstrates how these new risk screening tools can be used to inform toxicity impact estimates in LCA and highlights needs for future research. The framework provides a basis for developing tools and methods to support decision making on the use of chemicals in products

Evaluating Consumer Product Life Cycle Sustainability with Integrated Metrics: A Paper Towel Case Study

Integrated sustainability metrics provide an enriched set of information to inform decision-making. However, such approaches are rarely used to assess product supply chains. In this work, four integrated metricspresented in terms of land, resources, value added, and stabilityare applied in a life cycle context, along with industrial process systems assessment and life cycle assessment, to evaluate Bounty paper towels from two manufacturing lines. The results show that the paper towels from the more state-of-the-art manufacturing line and newer facility are marginally more sustainable by the majority of environmental measures. Drivers of impacts from land use, resource use, and externality costs in the product life cycle are largely in the supply chains for raw materials and energy. The integrated metrics point to greenhouse gases, criteria air pollutants, land used for pulpwood, and fossil fuel use as important emissions and resources to manage for improving the sustainability of paper towel production. The metrics employed help to reconcile contrasting results from the life cycle impact assessment, such as water and energy use impacts, and provide a reduced set of practical, yet comprehensive, information to inform product-related decision-making