LCA as eco-design tool to support the development of injection moulded products

The use of recycled materials reduces the need for primary materials and it also minimizes the amount of waste in the production process. Therefore, by using recycled materials, the total material flow necessary for the production of a product can be reduced. Moreover, the total consumption of resources for the production of recycled material is, usually, remarkably inferior that in the production of the same amount of primary material. The purpose of this study is to validate this concept in the injection-moulding field using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. LCA quantifies and evaluates the environmental impacts of a product from the extraction of raw materials, through manufacture and use, to final disposal. Today, most people involved in the industrial engineering community (consultants, manufacturers, researchers and institutional actors) assert that Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is one of the most successful tool to assess environmental considerations in the product design process. The main goal of this research work is to support the design decision-making process and quantify the resources saving of the use of a post consumer material instead of a primary one in the development process of the injection moulded products. The material object of this study is the Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET). In particular the test case is about the life cycle assessment of a PET clotheshorse, developed in collaboration with a SME Italian company. Traditionally the clotheshorses are made of Polypropylene (PP) or other metallic material, the purpose of this is to compare the traditional solution with the use of recycled PET for the clotheshorse production. The result of this study validates the assumption that the use of recycled material is a more environmental friendly practise and the use of the LCA methodology permitted to quantifies this environmental advantage.