PARENT SESSION
WA1 Life cycle management
9:00 AM to 12:30 PM, Wednesday, 09 May 2001
Session Chair: K. Saur
Room 1

(292) Use of Life Cycle Assessment in a consumer goods company.

Saouter, Erwan¹, VanHoof, Gert¹, Feijtel, Tom¹, Pittinger, Charley¹, Schowanek, Diederik¹, ¹

ABSTRACT- Procter & Gamble environmental scientists have been using Life Cycle Inventory and Life Cycle Assessment for several years to identify improvement opportunities for reducing energy consumption and environmental emissions associated with the production, use and disposal of its products. These tools are components of P&G Environmental Management Framework (EMF), which incorporates economic, social, regulatory and environmental (both human and ecological) aspects of doing business. The framework relies upon a variety of tools, including ecological risk assessment, human safety assessment, and life-cycle assessment. Today, P&G is organized in several global business units (Paper which aggregates the 3 GBUs Baby care, Feminine care, and Tissues & Towel; Beauty care, Fabric & Home care, Food & Beverage and Health care) and 6 Market Development Organizations. The Corporate functions and Global Business Services are providing global support for each of these organizations. Life cycle assessment activity and expertise are present in each group, however the scientific and technical developments of LCA now reside most heavily in the Corporate Human & Environmental Safety Department. In the past, business units have conducted most LCAs independently. Today, the Corporate group has the responsibility of performing LCA on products, in cooperation with business unit experts. This allows the company to more effectively use resources, maintain compliance with ISO guidelines, develop and implement new methods, maintain P&G databases, train internal P&G managers, assist with external communication, and engage in external scientific activities. This group is technically accountable for the quality of the LCAs performed, but the goal and scope, as well as the functional unit definition, remain the responsibility of the business unit managers. For major initiatives, especially, LCA is being used right from the early development of a product (upstream technology), to packaging design and up to communication to our stakeholders. The presentation will focus principally on how LCA has been implemented in a consumer goods company like Procter & Gamble and how it is used for decision-making.

Key words: LCA, Decision making, Environmental management, Product assessment