Applying social LCA to the evaluation of the home laundry towards reduction of environmental intervention

Abstract

Plans are discussed to reduce environmental impact of the home laundry during the overall life cycle, including the wear cycle of clothes, through the application of social life cycle assessment (LCA) to two types of washing machines: the pulsator type and the drum type. The study has clarified that CO2 emissions during machine use are much greater then CO2 emissions during the actual manufacture of either type of washing machine. In addition, it has been clarified that the pulsator type washing machine can reduce total CO2 emissions to a greater extent than the drum type washing machine over its lifecycle with an increasing weight of clothes washed per load.