"The earth provides enough to satisfy the needs of every man, but not the greed of every man."
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who do nothing to prevent it."
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
INTRODUCTION
The fast pace of life that is currently being carried has led us to have a single goal as a society, to produce, consume and discard. This situation is not something that has developed in the last decade or the last I follow, all the roads that humanity has traveled have led it here. Human beings by nature must produce something, as well as try to leave a physical trace of their passage through the world, unfortunately this trace is not, in some cases, beneficial for our planet. Proof of this are the huge amounts of garbage that are discarded year after year, especially in large cities.
Recently an attempt has been made to identify the impact that all these wastes have on our environment. Different methodologies and techniques have emerged to try to counteract the harmful effects that different product manufacturing processes can have from their conception. One of these methods to know how our strident industrial career affects our ecosystems is the Life Cycle Analysis, LCA.
SITUATION OF THE COUNTRY IN THE GENERATION OF WASTE
With data from the website, Cuéntame, from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography; We have that in Mexico 86,343 tons of garbage are collected daily, that is, 770 grams of garbage per person on average.
(INEGI, 2017). This is to some extent "normal" in a country of 122.3 million people. The problem is not that waste is produced, but what is done with it.
As a matter of culture, in Mexico, the need to separate garbage is not established; and sometimes not all communities have the infrastructure to collect it. Garbage in the country is classified as follows:
Garbage classification
Source: (INEGI, 2017)
It should be noted that, mainly in the center of the country, previously classified waste collection centers have been installed; This in order to reduce the amount of garbage that is sent to landfills and landfills, and also to reuse these wastes, and through a remanufacturing process to renew them for later use.
IDIOSYNCRASY IN MEXICO REGARDING ENVIRONMENTAL CARE
Living in a country with a large territorial extension and with a biodiversity that many other countries long for, has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are obvious, but within the disadvantages; we have that the population does not care about the care of the environment. 87 out of 100 people aged 18 to 65 are interested in caring for the environment, but only 31 practice it (INEGI, 2017).
It is for this reason that it is imperative to make the inhabitants aware of the importance of proper care for the environment. It all starts in homes, but companies also play a very important role in this situation.
LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS - LCA
All human activities, to a lesser or greater extent, have an environmental impact. When you breathe, C02 is produced, although most of it comes from the tons produced by industries. A few years ago, the world average per country of CO2 emissions was 4,996 metric tons (World Bank, 2013).
Fortunately, thanks to the interest of the industries in knowing how the activities of each of their production processes affect the environment, a tool called Life Cycle Analysis, acronym LCA, has been developed.
This is defined as follows:
"It is a methodological tool that is used to measure the environmental impact of a product, process or system throughout its entire life cycle, from when raw materials are obtained until the end of its life." (Ihobe, Public Society for Environmental Management of the Basque government, 2009)
“It is an environmental management tool, it is used to environmentally evaluate a product in all stages of its life cycle, from the manufacture of raw materials to waste management. when this product is no longer useful. "
(Fullana, 1998)
"The identification and evaluation of inputs and outputs and the potential impacts of the processes of a production system is the Life Cycle."
(ISO, 2014)
Looking at the industrial sector, taking the Life Cycle initiative as an approach means going against the more linear approaches of industrial production facilities. ("What is Life Cycle Thinking?", 2016)
This tool helps to know the environmental impact of each of the life stages of a product from the moment the raw materials are extracted to make it until its disposal. For this analysis the product life cycle is divided as follows:
Product life cycle
With this instrument a thorough study is carried out, thinking of the product as an open system. The inputs would be the consumption of raw materials and energy, and the outputs are emissions to the environment, CO2, manufacturing waste and the product being discarded; going through the entire production process.
Product life cycle as an open system
The analysis as an open system is carried out to better quantify the impact that the process has on the inputs and outputs to and from the environment respectively. The LCA analysis process is sometimes also known as the organization's environmental footprint.
STANDARDIZATION OF THE LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS
The ISO standards as a whole serve for the environmental management of companies and standardize tools.
Within these standards is the ISO 14000 series of standards for environmental management within industries. Within this series are the ISO 14072 standard that serves as a guide for the application of LCA methodologies and techniques in organizations (ISO, 2014).
ISO 14000 standards according to their approach:
• ISO 14040: General principles and practice.
Define the goal and scope. It serves for the correct delimitation of the system.
• ISO 14041: Inventories.
At this stage, the necessary data, the production process, as well as the inputs and outputs are collected.
• ISO 14042: Impact analysis.
Categories are assigned according to their impact. The impact of the Life Cycle is evaluated.
• ISO 14043: Interpretations.
The Life Cycle is interpreted.
• ISO 14047: Applications
Here are examples of application of ISO 14042.
• ISO 14048: Evaluations
Life Cycle evaluation is performed. It has the data documentation format.
• ISO 14071: Review
Review of critical processes and competencies.
ADVANTAGES OF LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS
The main idea of Life Cycle Analysis is:
1. In the inputs to the system
Identify the use of natural resources and if this use is excessive or not. To see if it can be reduced in any way or failing that, see what alternatives can be sought to avoid the indiscriminate use of natural resources.
For example, in a metallurgical company, a way to reduce the use of metals recently extracted from the subsoil, which translates into a saving of resources for the extraction by the mining companies and the purchase of these, would be the use of metal from waste (scrap). A scrap collection program for reprocessing can be implemented in-house.
In a company that uses water, it would be, as long as it is not for bottling. Install a wastewater treatment plant, and thus avoid the extraction of rivers or springs.
2. In the process
In the process of packaging a product, identify if excess packaging is used, for example that many plastic bags or cardboard boxes are used. One initiative would be the use of paper bags thinking about later disposal. In the case of cardboard, avoid packing in boxes in boxes. Design a way to take advantage of those resources.
3. At the outputs
Analyze CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, and determine if they are entirely necessary. Consider how to reduce these emissions, perhaps with the installation of less polluting equipment.
CONCLUSIONS
This tool is shown as an excellent alternative to the situation that exists worldwide in terms of caring for the environment. While it is true that, for example, the fresh water reserves on our planet are not few, the truth is that due to poor waste management, it has been contaminated in ways that in some cases seem irreversible. The quality of the air is another important point to consider, since in large cities, which even worse have industries, respiratory diseases are already an evil that afflicts society. Ecology awareness is important to see how to implement this type of methodologies.
THESIS PROPOSAL
Implementation of the tool, Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) in a coffee producing company, to reduce CO2 emissions to the atmosphere and manage the reprocessing of wastewater.
OBJECTIVE
Implement the Life Cycle Analysis methodology in the company, BIBLIOGRAPHY
World Bank. (2013). CO2 emissions (metric tons per capita) - Data. Retrieved on February 20, 2017, from http://datos.bancomundial.org/indicador/EN.ATM.CO2E.PC
Fullana, rita PP (1998). Life Cycle Analysis. Barcelona: Rubes
Editorial, Sl
Ihobe, Basque Government Public Society for Environmental Management, MM taldea. (2009). LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS AND CARBON FOOTPRINT. Ihobe,
Public Society for Environmental Management of the Basque Government, 37.
INEGI. (2017). Environment. Tell me about Mexico. Retrieved on February 20, 2017, from
ISO. (2014). ISO / TS 14072: 2014 (en), Environmental management - Life cycle assessment - Requirements and guidelines for organizational life cycle assessment. Retrieved February 20, 2017, from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso:ts:14072:ed-1:v1:en
What is Life Cycle Thinking? - Life Cycle Initiative. (2016). Retrieved from
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