Systems Thinking - The Key to Sustainability Assignment: Product Life Cycle

Description

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool for examining the total environmental impact of a product through every step of its life - from obtaining raw materials all the way through making it in a factory, selling it in a store, using it in the workplace or at home, and disposing of it. In this assignment you will choose your preferred product and work through a simple life-cycle analysis. Because of the complexity of life-cycle analysis, the concept of this assignment is to introduce students to thinking beyond the final product bought at the store and disposed of later on. It is to encourage their understanding of the many processes that can be involved in product's life-span from its manufacture, use, and maintenance, to its final disposal, including the raw material acquisition required to manufacture the product. This activity can be expanded as much as you desire but you are not expected to do any impact assessment. Please address the following issues only in the life cycle analysis.

1. Select one product of your choice for the analysis and list all the different types of materials (to you best guess) that the product is made of. For example, for leather shoe this list will probably include such items as leather, nylon, plastic, rubber, etc. Also add to the list the packaging materials (if applied) the product came in from the store (this could include cardboard boxes, tissue paper, plastic bags, paper bags, etc.)

2. Discuss the various components listed (i.e process involved). For example, for leather shoe, the leather comes from a factory that processes and cuts leather which is then delivered to the shoe manufacturer. Further back to the raw materials, the leather comes from cattle via a slaughterhouse and tanning factory.

3. Develop a type of flow chart similar to that in Figure 1 (example--shoe product) for several of the components of your preferred product to get across the idea that all the various parts are a result of a number of manufacturing processes. You may also consider reuse and recycling if there is any potential.

4. Examine one of the manufacturing processes in depth and develop a chart such as the one illustrated in Figure 2 (which uses leather production as an example). Explore the concept that this process requires energy, water, and raw materials and produces a product (which goes on to the next step for further manufacturing) and air, water, or land pollution as well as solid waste.

5. Discuss the impact this process has on the environment, the fact that all of the parts have some impact on the environment, and that everything we buy as consumers comes with an environmental price tag. Also provide a clear recommendation that minimizes the environmental impacts associated with the product.

Submission outline and directions

• Maximum length of the paper should be 1500 words (Arial 11pt., 1.5 spaced) excluding references.
• Provide response to each question and use reputable sources.
• Use APA citation style. Include a bibliography.

Attachment:- Assignment File.rar