|
6A - LCIA - Toxicity/RA (WE2/1) The assessment of the impact of toxic substances on the marine ecosystem in LCA. de Koning, A.1, Guinée, J.B.1, 1 Centre of Environmental Science (CML), Leiden University, Leiden, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands ABSTRACT- The new Dutch LCA handbook includes as baseline characterisation method for ecotoxicity three sub impact categories: freshwater aquatic, marine aquatic and terrestrial ecotoxicity. Case studies applying this baseline method have shown results where the dominating impact category is marine aquatic ecotoxicity. Questions have been risen about the validity of these results. An analysis of the causes of the dominance of the marine impact scores has been made. It appeared that the relatively high contribution has numerous causes ranging from the large volume of the oceans to normalisation issues. Our assessment shows that although there are flaws in the way the fate and exposure modelling is done in the marine environment the main reasons for the high score are LCA specific. Among these LCA specific causes are the weight factors attributed to the marine aquatic, freshwater aquatic and terrestrial ecotoxicity category, the incomplete normalisation figures and the use of the PEC/PNEC ratio as the ecotoxicity potential in combination with the persistence of some of the substances in the marine environment. Recommendations will be presented on how to improve and deal with marine modelling in LCIA. Key words: marine ecotoxicity, life cyle impact assessment, metals |
