A database for the life-cycle assessment of procter & gamble laundry detergents

A Life-Cycle Inventory (LCI) and Assessment (LCA) database for laundry detergents of the Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) was constructed using SimaPro software. The input data needed to conduct a product LCI came from several different, supporting databases to cover supplier (extraction and manufacturing of raw materials), manufacturing of the detergent product, transportation, packaging, use and disposal stages. Manufacturing, packaging and transportation stages are usually representative of European conditions while the use and disposal stages are country specific and represent how consumers are using a specific product and how wastes are disposed of. The database has been constructed to allow Procter & Gamble managers to analyse detergent products from a system-wide, functional unit point of view in a consistent, transparent and reproducible manner. For demonstrative purpose, a life cycle inventory and a life cycle impact assessment of a P&G laundry detergent used in Belgium is presented. The analysis showed that more than 80% of the energy consumption occurs during the consumer use stage (mainly for heating of the water). Air and solid waste follow the same pattern, most of these being associated with die energy generation for the use stage. More than 98% of the biological oxygen demand, however, is associated with the disposal stage even after accounting for removal during treatment. Future challenges are the completion and/or updating of all detergent ingredient inventories.