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General comment Allocation is required if some material, energy, and waste data
cannot be measured separately for the product under investigation.
In this study, as per
following order; Allocation is based on annual production rate and made with high
accuracy and precision. The values for 1 kg of the produced product
which is used within this study are calculated by considering the total
product weight per annual production. According to the ratio of the
annual production of the declared product to the total annual
production at the factory, the annual total energy consumption,
packaging materials and the generated wastes per the declared
product are allocated. Note that the product output (meaning that the product is installed, all
the losses/waste along the way being deduced) is fixed to 1 kg and
the corresponding amount of product is used in the calculations.
In the production covered by this EPD, several grades of products
are included; since the production processes of these products are
similar, allocations is taken as directly proportional to the linear
weight of the product according to the table in annex 3.
This LCA study is conducted in accordance with all methodological
considerations, such as performance, system boundaries, data
quality, allocation procedures, and decision rules to evaluate inputs
and outputs. All estimations and assumptions are given below.
- Module A1: For raw materials, when several suppliers are involved, a
barycentric approach is performed on transportation distances and modes (i.e. the averages take into account weights according to the
percentage of supply between the different suppliers). - Module A2: Additional transport is considered for the wood pallet
used with a conservative default value of 300km by truck. - Module A3:
All ancillary and packaging materials volumes per 1kg of produced
product are coming from average consumption on a representative
annual production. Transportation scenario are conservative values.
Electricity consumption for 1kg of produced product is obtained by
dividing the reported annual electricity consumption by the annual
weight of product produced. Note that the electricity datapoint is
taken to fit with the actual location of the plant.
Same principle is applied for wastewater and percentage of waste
for raw materials (averages done over a representative year of
production).
- Module A4: Transportation doesn’t cause losses as products are
packaged properly. Also, volume capacity utilisation factor is
assumed to be 1 for the nested packaged products. Additionally, an
average transportation scenario is based on a barycentric approach
(i.e. averages distances observed along a representative year).
- Module A5: A productivity ratio has been used to allocate the
excavation/compaction works (diesel machine operation in hours
and translated in liters) needed to install the whole system (panels,
reinforcements and backfill). It is based on an average
reinforcements density and onsite building productivity ratio for a
typical reinforced soil structure. Note that this system involves
concrete panels (most common application).
Other devices and elements for the system to be able to work are
included in this section (backfill + panel).
Additionally, 5% of waste on GeoStrap ®
is considered during the
implementation onsite.
Since the treatment of the wood pallet depends on the worksites, it is
considered untreated for conservatism with associated direct
biogenic carbon emissions.
- Module C1: A demolition ratio is used to allocate the required
operation of diesel machines (expressed in hours and translated in
liters of diesel) for dismantling the reinforced soil structure system
(panels, reinforcements and backfill). As for the installation phase,
this ratio has been calculated taking into account an average
reinforcements density and onsite demolition productivity ratio for a
typical reinforced soil structure. - Module C2: Transportation distance to the closest disposal area is
estimated as 50 km and the transportation method is assumed as
lorry which is the most common.
- Module C3, C4, D: The end-of-life product is assumed to be 100%
treated through waste disposal in a municipal solid waste incinerator
(MSWI) without any recovery or recycling as per a conservative
scenario. Hence, there is no benefit from the reusing, recycling or
recovery.
Note for all transportation by truck:
Vehicle capacity utilization volume factor is assumed to be 1 which
means full load. In reality it may vary but as the role of transportation
emission in total results is small and so the variety in load assumed to
be negligible. Empty returns are not taken into account as it is
assumed that return trip is used by transportation companies to
serve the needs of other clients.
Allocation used in Ecoinvent 3.6 environmental data sources follows
the methodology ‘allocation, cut-off by classification’. This
methodology is in line with the requirements of the EN 15804 -
standard.
The study does not exclude any modules or processes which are
stated mandatory in the EN 15804:2012+A2:2019 and the applied
PCR. The study does not exclude any hazardous materials or
substances.
The study includes all major raw material and energy consumption. All inputs and outputs of the unit processes, for which data is
available for, are included in the calculation. There is no neglected
unit process more than 1% of total mass or energy flows. The module specific total neglected input and output flows also do not
exceed 5% of energy usage or mass.
The study does not exclude any modules or processes which are
stated mandatory in the EN 15804:2012+A2:2019 and RTS PCR.
Excluded modules are use stage modules (B1-B7), which are not
mandatory according to the RTS PCR. The study does not exclude
any hazardous materials or substances. The study includes all major
raw material and energy consumption. All inputs and outputs of the
unit processes which data are available for are included in the
calculation. There is no neglected unit process more than 1% of total
mass and energy flows. The total neglected input and output flows do
also not exceed 5% of energy usage or mass. The life cycle
analysis includes all industrial processes from raw material
acquisition to production, distribution and end-of-life stages. The
production of capital equipment, construction activities, and
infrastructure, maintenance and operation of capital equipment,
personnel-related activities, energy and water use related to
company management and sales activities are excluded.
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