How to assess the life cycle of your products or services

Life cycle assessment

You will need to collect, analyse and evaluate data on each phase of your product’s life cycle.

You can choose to implement your own in-house assessment or you may prefer an externally certified assessment through ISO 14040. Other businesses and your customers are more likely to recognise ISO 14040.

ISO 14040 outlines the five stages you can use for life cycle assessment (LCA):

  • define the goal and scope of your assessment
  • compile a life cycle inventory to identify the inputs and outputs during your product’s life cycle
  • assess the impact of each of the inputs and outputs
  • interpret your findings by identifying significant issues before evaluating them and making your final conclusions
  • apply your conclusions to the development and improvement of your product, strategic planning, public policy or marketing.

EcoSMEs provides information and tools to help you carry out LCA for your products and services. The website is a pilot project developed specifically for small businesses.

The pilot project includes the following business areas:

  • electronic and electrical equipment
  • metalworking
  • urban furniture such as lamp posts or letter boxes
  • office use
  • hotels
  • wood products
  • textiles.

Other tools and guidance

You can use environmental management systems (EMS) and environmental reports to help you assess your business activities.

Envirowise has produced guidance to help businesses apply good design principles to their products.