Application of life cycle assessment to footwear

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been applied in the leather footwear industry. Due to the fact that the goal of the study is to point those steps in the footwear cycle which contribute most to the total environmental impact, only a simplified semi-quantitative methodology is used. Background-data of all the inputs and outputs from the system have been inventoried. Impact assessment has been restricted to classification and characterisation. From the results of this LCA it has been concluded that energy consumption is an important impact generator phase, due to the characteristics of the electricity production in the studied area (Catalonia and the rest of Spain). A remarkable impact is generated in the solid waste management phase, also due to its characteristics in the studied area. Another significant impact source is the cattle raising phase where great values of Global Warming, Acidification and Eurrophication Potentials are estimated. At the tannery, a great value of water eutrophication potential is observed and this phase is also important for its non-renewable resource consumption.