The main challenges for social life cycle assessment (SLCA) to support the social impacts analysis of product-service systems

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 607-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thayla T. Sousa-Zomer ◽  
Paulo A. Cauchick Miguel
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Impacts ◽  
Service Systems ◽  
Social Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Product Service ◽  
The Social ◽  
Product Service Systems

scholarly journals SOCIAL IMPACT EVALUATION OF TEA PRODUCTION USING SOCIAL LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT (S-LCA) METHOD IN CAMERON HIGHLANDS, PAHANG, MALAYSIA

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir Hamzah Sharaai ◽  
Khairul Izzudin Muhammad ◽  
Yeoh Geok Wah
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Social Impacts ◽  
Social Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Social Aspects ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cameron Highlands ◽  
Tea Production

Commercial convention of tea production and plantation at the largest scale in this country has shown an escalation year by year, together with the high demand for tea products in the Malaysian market. This may have a direct social impact throughout the life cycle of tea production. Thus, this research sought to identify the social impacts from the overall process of tea production. This study used the Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) involving descriptive analysis by assessing the social impacts associated with the stakeholders of tea production using three sets of questionnaires. The studies were conducted at one of the highest tea production companies in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. The findings of the stakeholders showed a good level of satisfaction because there was no significant negative effect. Overall, the social aspects of the tea production met the required criteria in terms of social significance. However, there were some social aspects that can be improved by the factory in the future such as health and safety, discrimination, job opportunity and local community involvement.

scholarly journals A Social Life Cycle Assessment Framework for Additive Manufacturing Products

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (13) ◽  
pp. 4459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bardia Naghshineh ◽  
Francisco Lourenço ◽  
Radu Godina ◽  
Celeste Jacinto ◽  
Helena Carvalho
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Additive Manufacturing ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Life Cycle Stage ◽  
Social Impacts ◽  
Social Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Disruptive Technology ◽  
Life Cycle Stages ◽  
The Social

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is viewed as a disruptive technology with the potential to replace many manufacturing processes. With its rapid proliferation in recent years, it is crucial to understand how to measure this technology’s social impacts. There are many studies available in the existing literature regarding the economic and environmental impacts of AM technology. However, research regarding the social impacts of this technology is still scarce. To this end, this research has developed a framework based on Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) methodology to measure AM products’ social impacts throughout their life cycle stages. The proposed framework includes an underlying mathematical model that was developed to allow for the aggregation of indicator scores. Additionally, cut-off scores were determined to differentiate between positive and negative social impacts. This framework can be applied to case studies, which provides a final score that quantifies the social impacts of an AM product throughout all its life cycle stages. It also provides scores for each stakeholder category and life cycle stage, which facilitates the identification of hotspots that require attention from organizations.

scholarly journals SOCIAL IMPACT EVALUATION OF TEA PRODUCTION USING SOCIAL LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT (S-LCA) METHOD IN CAMERON HIGHLANDS, PAHANG, MALAYSIA

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir Hamzah Sharaai ◽  
Khairul Izzudin Muhammad ◽  
Yeoh Geok Wah
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Social Impacts ◽  
Social Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Social Aspects ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cameron Highlands ◽  
Tea Production

Commercial convention of tea production and plantation at the largest scale in this country has shown an escalation year by year, together with the high demand for tea products in the Malaysian market. This may have a direct social impact throughout the life cycle of tea production. Thus, this research sought to identify the social impacts from the overall process of tea production. This study used the Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) involving descriptive analysis by assessing the social impacts associated with the stakeholders of tea production using three sets of questionnaires. The studies were conducted at one of the highest tea production companies in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. The findings of the stakeholders showed a good level of satisfaction because there was no significant negative effect. Overall, the social aspects of the tea production met the required criteria in terms of social significance. However, there were some social aspects that can be improved by the factory in the future such as health and safety, discrimination, job opportunity and local community involvement.

scholarly journals Sustainability Assessment with Integrated Circular Economy Principles: A Toy Case Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3856
Author(s):  
Rebeka Kovačič Lukman ◽  
Vasja Omahne ◽  
Damjan Krajnc
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Product Life Cycle ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Social Impacts ◽  
Life Cycle Costing ◽  
Social Life Cycle Assessment

When considering the sustainability of production processes, research studies usually emphasise environmental impacts and do not adequately address economic and social impacts. Toy production is no exception when it comes to assessing sustainability. Previous research on toys has focused solely on assessing environmental aspects and neglected social and economic aspects. This paper presents a sustainability assessment of a toy using environmental life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, and social life cycle assessment. We conducted an inventory analysis and sustainability impact assessment of the toy to identify the hotspots of the system. The main environmental impacts are eutrophication, followed by terrestrial eco-toxicity, acidification, and global warming. The life cycle costing approach examined the economic aspect of the proposed design options for toys, while the social assessment of the alternative designs revealed social impacts along the product life cycle. In addition, different options based on the principles of the circular economy were analysed and proposed in terms of substitution of materials and shortening of transport distances for the toy studied.

scholarly journals Social Life-Cycle Assessment of a Piece of Jewellery. Emphasis on the Local Community

Resources ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuela D’Eusanio ◽  
Monica Serreli ◽  
Luigia Petti
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Social Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
The Social

An increasing global focus on sustainability has affected the jewellery industry by raising questions about its environmental and social impacts and ethics due to the negative impacts of gold mining. It is essential to consider the social aspects of mining activities on the socio-economic environment and the affected individuals in order to understand the sustainability of the jewellery industry in a better way. Nonetheless, this is a gap in the evaluation of the issues of jewellery in the other phases of the life cycle, observed in the literature. For these reasons, the goal of this study is to assess the social and socio-economic aspects of a piece of jewellery from the artisan’s point of view by considering the relationship between a piece of jewellery and the local community. The United National Environmental Programme/Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (UNEP/SETAC) Guidelines on Social Life-Cycle Assessment, the UNEP/SETAC Methodological Sheets and the Subcategory Assessment Method were implemented. The findings show that a piece of jewellery can play an important role in supporting the local cultural heritage by innovating the traditional product, and promoting educational activities related to the history of the product and the territory. Consequently, the local community with its historical background gives an added value to the piece of jewellery. Further research on this topic is desirable in order to improve the knowledge of this particular sector and to identify other social issues that can be involved in this product.

scholarly journals Comprehensive Evaluation of the Sustainable Development of Battery Electric Vehicles in China

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 5635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wang ◽  
Zhou ◽  
Li ◽  
Wei
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Social Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Battery Electric Vehicles ◽  
The Social

Due to the rapid growth in the total number of vehicles in China, energy consumption and environmental pollution are serious problems. The development of electric vehicles (EVs) has become one of the important measures for solving these problems. As EVs are in a period of rapid development, sustainability research on them is conducive to the timely discovery of—and solution to—problems in the development process, but current research on the sustainability of EVs is still scarce. Based on the strategic development direction of EVs in China, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) were chosen as the research object of this study. The theory and method of the life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) were used to study the sustainability of BEVs. Specifically, the indicators of the life cycle assessment (LCA) were constructed, and the GaBi software was used to assess the environmental dimensions. The framework of life cycle costing (LCC) was used to assess the economic dimensions from the perspective of consumers. The indicators of the social life cycle assessment (SLCA) of stakeholders were constructed to assess the social dimension. Then, the method of the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) was selected for multicriteria decision-making in order to integrate the three dimensions. A specific conclusion was drawn from a comparison of BEVs and internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs). The study found that the life cycle sustainability of ICEVs in China was better than that of BEVs. This result might be unexpected, but there were reasons for it. Through sensitivity analysis, it was concluded that the current power structure and energy consumption in the operation phase of BEVs had a higher environmental impact, and the high cost of batteries and the government subsidy policy had a higher impact on the cost of BEVs. Corresponding suggestions are put forward at the end of the article.

scholarly journals Social life cycle assessment of biomethane production and distribution in Latvia

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrina Karklina ◽  
Dzintra Slisane ◽  
Francesko Romagnoli ◽  
Dagnija Blumberga
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Potential ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
Biomethane Production ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Multi Criteria Analysis

<em>A </em>social life cycle assessment is proposed for the evaluation of the social potential impact in regard to the production and use of biomethane derived from biomass (algae and manure) in Latvia. The Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) is used to evaluate the social performances, which have been selected based on literature, statistics and legislation data. Seven alternatives are evaluated by experts and the best alternative is figured out.

scholarly journals Social Life Cycle Assessment of Product Value Chains Under a Circular Economy Approach: A Case Study in the Plastic Packaging Sector

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 6671
Author(s):  
Diana Reinales ◽  
David Zambrana-Vasquez ◽  
Aitana Saez-De-Guinoa
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Value Chains ◽  
Plastic Packaging ◽  
The Social

Environmental and economic impact assessment of products have a long record, while social performance analysis of products have less references in the scientific literature due its particularities and the adaptations needed for the features of the studied subject. In addition, there is a lack of a methodological framework of its application in the analysis of value chains, with the aim of estimating the impacts of technical innovations from the social point of view. This paper describes the theoretical framework and impact assessment approach for the Social Life Cycle Assessment of product value chains under a circular economy approach by applying a scoring system in different subcategories and indicators, considering the plastic packaging sector as a case study. Twelve subcategories have been chosen, because of their relevance to the case study, related to the impacts on the labor conditions, consumers’ well-being, end-of-life of the product, local community conditions, technology and suppliers, among others. The validation of the methodology in the plastic packaging sector is done by considering the main stakeholders involved in the value chain and the particularities of the sector.

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