Life cycle assessment as a support in decision making for ecodesign in LAN cables

Abstract

Technological updates in electronic products generate attention to the environmental impacts arising from the life cycle of products. In the telecommunications sector, cables for local area networks (LAN) stand out due to production and consumption on high scales around the world. With each change in product development, these items tend to have their lifetime reduced and, consequently, discards end up being premature several times and without proper treatment and control. This problem, associated with the increased consumption of materials for manufacturing, ends up causing environmental impacts. Propose improvements in the environmental performance of this product is a strategic objective for the telecommunications sector. Before implementing improvements, it is necessary to assess the product’s environmental impacts to make the decision-making process effective and efficient. However, no studies with this data were found in the literature. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was applied to identify and quantify the relevance of the negative environmental impacts in the LAN cable life cycle. From this, data from the Life Cycle Inventory of the product was collected with the support of a multinational company in the telecommunications sector. In a second moment, Ecodesign was applied for the formulation of 5 scenarios that minimized the environmental impacts generated in the production process. The research shows the most beneficial product options for the ecosystem is structured by aluminium and biopolyethylene. We recommend to evaluate whether there are impacts on the technological and economic performance of products resulting from the practical application of the Ecodesign scenarios proposed in this research.