Life cycle assessment and green chemistry: the yin and yang of industrial ecology

Abstract

The practice of life cycle assessment has been well documented as a tool for comparing products and processes or comparing various components within a life cycle. This paper addresses the question of how changes can be made once an assessment has been completed, such as identifying the improvements that can be made to address environmental problems and to decrease impacts on human health and the environment. Green chemistry, a fairly recent approach that addresses environmental concerns at a fundamental level, has already demonstrated examples of what we call ‘life cycle innovation’, that is, improvements at all stages of the product or process life cycle. This paper explores various applications of green chemistry methodologies to all stages of a product or process life cycle.