Evaluating environmental impacts of hard surface cleaners through life cycle assessment by addressing ecolabel criteria

Date

2023-11-30

Author

Duman, İlke

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Cleaning products are essential for maintaining hygiene and sanitary conditions in every aspect of daily life. Over the years, there has been a significant growth in the production and consumption of hard surface cleaners (HSCs) on a national and global scale. Even though HSCs protect people from dirt and contamination, studies report the negative impact on human health and environmental ecosystems. To identify the environmental performance of a product, life cycle assessment (LCA) or ecolabelling practices are the main tools that are used. This study is unique both in terms of analyzing the environmental impacts of three different HSCs in the Turkish market using LCA, as well as exploring the relationship between LCA and ecolabel criteria. The products investigated are an undiluted all-purpose cleaner (APCU), a ready-to-use (RTU) all-purpose cleaner (APCRTU) and an RTU kitchen cleaner (KCRTU). The LCA study was performed using SimaPro 9.2.0.2 software and Ecoinvent 3 database, while ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H) and Endpoint (H) methods were used to calculate and compare the environmental impacts. The midpoint results demonstrated that APCU has the highest environmental impacts during the packaging and use and end-of-life (use&EoL) stages of its life cycle, whereas the other two have greater environmental impacts during the packaging and mixing stages. Single score (Pt) is an aggregated measure that quantifies the overall environmental impact where a higher single score indicates a greater environmental burden. The endpoint results showed that KCRTU has the highest single score (41.09 Pt), closely followed by APCRTU (33.46 Pt), with APCU having the lowest (21.63 Pt). It is found that the ranking is directly related to the total mass of the chemicals in the products. Based on the implemented scenarios, it is concluded that products that are banned, restricted, or endorsed by eco-labels have a significant impact on the environmental impact categories.

Subject Keywords

Cleaning Products, Hard Surface Cleaners, Life Cycle Assessment, Ecolabelling, SimaPro

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/107676

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis