Abroad
The workgroup that collects and works out the knowledge on LCA using in the area of waste and resources exists within the Institute for Environment and Sustainability of European Commission. The programme is marked as Action 2131 – EnSuRe – ENvironmental Assessment of European Wastes and the SUstainable Management of REsources, http://ensure.jrc.it/ from 2005 to 2008. Action 2131 focuses on providing consistent knowledge across the Union for the assessment of environmental and health impacts of European waste and of the trade-offs between opportunities for the more sustainable management of these resources.
The creation of European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment is the next important project of European Commission in the area of LCA. The Platform is independently co-ordinated and executed by the EC´s Directorate-General Joint Research Centre (DG JRC), Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES) in close collaboration with EC´s DG Environment. One of the activities of this project is also a common Euro LCA portal. It’s available on http://lca.jrc.ec.europa.eu and provides reference sets of data for different processes. It’s going on e.g. data on energetic, waste management and also technological processes. There are available regional data, e.g. emission connected with the production of 1 kWh in different countries and using of concrete energy sources. This is the base for international comparison of LCA studies and for cross-border planning of technological projects. This data sharing system is called European Reference Life Cycle Data System (ELCD).
Selected EC commissioned/supported projects including LCA
IPP Pilot Product exercise on mobile phones and on tropical garden furniture
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ipp/pilot.htm
Critical Review of Existing Studies and Life Cycle Analysis on the Regeneration and Incineration of Waste Oils
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/studies/oil/waste_oil.htm
Life cycle assessment of PVC and of principal competing materials
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/studies/pvc/lca_study.htm
Environmentally Friendly Construction Materials
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/construction/suscon/tgs/tg1/efcmfin.htm
Recycling end of life vehicles
http://ec.europa.eu/research/growth/gcc/projects/in-action-recycling.html