The three product types were chosen because they 1) contain materials common to many cable applications; 2) contain materials of potential environmental concern, or materials for which stakeholders have expressed a desire to identify and evaluate alternatives; and 3) are believed to represent a significant amount of the wire and cable market. The project set out to evaluate alternative compositions that might meet, for example, lead-free, heavy metal-free, and/or zero-halogen specifications.2,3 The goal is to determine whether the alternative products present environmentally preferable options.
The DfE WCP uses life-cycle assessment (LCA) as an environmental evaluation tool, which can be used to evaluate the environmental effects of a product, process, or activity. LCA is a comprehensive method for evaluating the full life cycle of the product system, from materials acquisition to manufacturing, use, and final disposition. As outlined in the ISO 14040 series, an LCA study has four major components: goal definition and scoping, life-cycle inventory (LCI), impact assessment, and