All examples on the climate wheel are based on Life Cycle Assessments (LCA), which are used to calculate the environmental impact of a product from cradle to grave. This includes everything from extraction of raw materials, manufacturing and use to disposal or recycling. All transports and all energy consumption to get the product to you are included as well.
LCAs can be calculated for any type of human activity or product, whether it be foods, packaging, electronics, fuel or various modes of transportation.
Waste must be transported, and energy is required to process it. But the environmental benefits of recycling are significant even when you count transports and other impacts at the recycling level.
By figuring out which stages of production have the greatest impacts, businesses can target their environmental efforts and create an effective environmental management system. Support and methods are available to utilize LCAs for product development and marketing as well.
Where does the information on the climate wheel come from?
- Steel, aluminium, plastics (HDPE) paper & glass. Environmental benefits of recycling, an international review of life cycle comparisons for key materials in the UK recycling sector, the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), September 2006.
- Copper. Miljöfördelar med återvunnet material som råvara (“Environmental Benefits of Recyclables as a Raw Material”), CIT Ekologik and Håkan Nordin Miljökompassen, the Swedish Recycling Industries' Association’s fall report 2002:1.
- Computer monitor (CRT). Eriksson, Elin (2007) Samhällsekonomiska effekter av WEEE-direktivet – En fallstudie av datorskärmar (“Socioeconomic Effects of the WEEE Directive: A Case Study of Computer Monitors”), IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute.
- Mobile phone. Electronics Environmental Benefits Calculator -- Version 1.1, University of Tennessee.
- All transport examples. Svante, a climate change calculator from Respect Climate, http://svante.respectclimate.com