A Cradle to Grave Approach:An Effective Solution for Reduction in Environmental Pollution

摘要

Due to the environmental awareness among the people,industries have started to shift their attention from pollution remediation to pollution prevention.Industries and businesses have started to assess how their activities affect the environment.Society has become concerned about the issues of natural resource depletion and environmental degradation.Many businesses have responded to this awareness by providing 'greener' products and using 'greener'processes.The environmental performance of products and processes has become a key issue,which is why some companies are investigating ways to minimize their effects on the environment.Many companies have found it advantageous to explore ways of moving beyond compliance using pollution prevention strategies and environmental management systems to improve their environmental performance.One such tool is called life cycle assessment(LCA).This concept considers the entire life cycle of a product.The complex interaction between a product and the environment is dealt with in the LCA method.LCA systematically describes and assesses all flows to and from nature,from a cradle to grave perspective.This article provides an introductory overview of LCA.The uses of and major components of LCA and how LCA is the most effective environmental performance tool for industries and business activities are discussed.