Life cycle assessment of TV sets in China: A case study of the impacts of CRT monitors

Along with the rapid increase in both production and use of TV sets in China, there is an increasing awareness of the environmental impacts related to the accelerating mass production, electricity use, and waste management of these sets. This paper aims to describe the application of life cycle asse...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Waste management (Elmsford) 2012-10, Vol.32 (10), p.1926-1936
Main Authors: Song, Qingbin, Wang, Zhishi, Li, Jinhui, Zeng, Xianlai
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Cathode Ray Tube
CATHODE RAY TUBES
CHINA
COMPUTER CODES
CRT monitor
Electronic Waste
Environment
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Exact sciences and technology
General treatment and storage processes
INVENTORIES
ISO
LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT
MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
MANUFACTURING
MONITORS
Other wastes and particular components of wastes
Pollution
POWER GENERATION
PRINTED CIRCUITS
Recycling
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
Television - instrumentation
TV sets
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
Wastes
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Summary:Along with the rapid increase in both production and use of TV sets in China, there is an increasing awareness of the environmental impacts related to the accelerating mass production, electricity use, and waste management of these sets. This paper aims to describe the application of life cycle assessment (LCA) to investigate the environmental performance of Chinese TV sets. An assessment of the TV set device (focusing on the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitor) was carried out using a detailed modular LCA based on the international standards of the ISO 14040 series. The LCA was constructed using SimaPro software version 7.2 and expressed with the Eco-indicator’ 99 life cycle impact assessment method. For a sensitivity analysis of the overall LCA results, the CML method was used in order to estimate the influence of the choice of the assessment method on the results. Life cycle inventory information was compiled by Ecoinvent 2.2 databases, combined with literature and field investigations on the current Chinese situation. The established LCA study shows that the use stage of such devices has the highest environmental impact, followed by the manufacturing stage. In the manufacturing stage, the CRT and the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) are those components contributing the most environmental impacts. During the use phase, the environmental impacts are due entirely to the methods of electricity generation used to run them, since no other aspects were taken into account for this phase. The final processing step—the end-of-life stage—can lead to a clear environmental benefit when the TV sets are processed through the formal dismantling enterprises in China.
ISSN:0956-053X
1879-2456
DOI:10.1016/j.wasman.2012.05.007