A systems-based sustainability assessment framework to capture active impacts in product life cycle/manufacturing

Impacts associated with various product life-cycle phases can be characterized geographically and classified as embodied or active; embodied impacts are accounted for in the realization of a product, e.g., water used in manufacturing; active impacts occur during use and post-use phases, e.g., microfibers in the living tissues of aquatic life. Active impacts can often be more significant than embodied impacts. Embodied impacts are easy to quantify and regulate through efficiency-based measures; whereas active impacts are difficult to trace and quantify, requiring an effectiveness-based approach. Active impacts have greater bearing on sustainability and require systems-based approach to discern causality of impacts traceable to manufacturing/design. Further, current sustainability assessment (SA) tools inadequately trace geographically distributed nature of product life-cycle phases and associated impacts. This paper discusses a systems-based SA framework for manufacturing to capture and trace active impacts to the corresponding life-cycle phases, currently limited to acute and chronic impacts on societal health. The same methodology could be extended, subsequently, to accommodate economic and environmental impacts (of concern). (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.