ASTM_D_7075_-_04.pdf

Designation:D 7075 04Standard Practice forEvaluating and Reporting Environmental Performance ofBiobased Products1This standard is issued under the fixed designation D 7075;the number immediately following the designation indicates the year oforiginal adoption or,in the case of revision,the year of last revision.A number in parentheses indicates the year of last reapproval.Asuperscript epsilon(e)indicates an editorial change since the last revision or reapproval.INTRODUCTIONBiobased materials and products offer potential environmental benefits,energy savings,and reducedconsumption of nonrenewable resources.However,there is a need for standard approaches andprocedures for comparing the overall environmental benefits and burdens of biobased products andnon-biobased products that are used in similar applications.Such comparisons are needed,amongother uses,by industry and governmental institutions in selecting materials and products in makingpurchasing decisions.An approach for determining the biobased content,resource consumption and environmental profileof biobased products has recently been published as an ASTM guide(D 6852),which provides aframework for assessing the environmental profile of a biobased product.Guide D 6852 proposed the use of life cycle assessment(LCA)as the tool for assessing theenvironmental performance of biobased products and deferred to future ASTM standards foradditional details.The subject of this practice is to provide additional guidance for evaluating the environmentalprofile or performance of biobased products.For consistency in decision-making,the LCA approachshall be further defined for biobased products,although the overall approach is applicable fornon-biobased products as well.This practice is in accord with concepts and terminology used in ISO Standards on LCA(ISO1404014043)and is designed as a guide through the steps of LCA assessment.References areprovided to the more detailed ISO Standards pertinent to each step.This practice is aimed at technical professionals not directly involved in LCA evaluations whodesire to become familiar with the methodology of LCA as it relates to biobased products.1.Scope1.1 Environmental performance shall be measured using thelife-cycle assessment(LCA)approach.LCA is a“cradle-to-grave”approach that evaluates all stages in the life of aproduct,including raw material acquisition,product manufac-ture,transportation,use and ultimately,recycling(that is,“cradle to cradle”and waste management).1.2 LCAs for biobased products shall be conducted andcommunicated in a similar manner,including consistentboundary conditions,functional units,environmental indica-tors,and reporting formats.1.3 This practice is limited to environmental performancemetrics and excludes other metrics such as those related toeconomics and social equity.1.4 This standard does not purport to address all of thesafety concerns,if any,associated with its use.It is theresponsibility of the user of this standard to establish appro-priate safety and health practices and determine the applica-bility of regulatory limitations prior to use.2.Referenced Documents2.1 ASTM Standards:2D 6852 Guide for Determination of Biobased Content,Re-sources Consumption,and Environmental Profile of Ma-terials and ProductsD 6866 Test Methods to Determine the Biobased Content ofMaterials Using Radiocarbon and Isotope Ratio MassSpectrometry1This practice is under the jurisdiction ofASTM Committee D20 on Plastics andis the direct responsibility of Subcommittee D20.96 on Environmentally DegradablePlastics and Biobased Products.Current edition approved December 1,2004.Published December 2004.2For referenced ASTM standards,visit the ASTM website,www.astm.org,orcontact ASTM Customer Service at serviceastm.org.For Annual Book of ASTMStandards volume information,refer to the standards Document Summary page onthe ASTM website.1Copyright ASTM International,100 Barr Harbor Drive,PO Box C700,West Conshohocken,PA 19428-2959,United States.D 7026 Guide for Sampling and Reporting Results forDetermination of Biobased Content of Materials via Car-bon Isotope Analysis2.2ISO Standards:ISO 14040 Environmental ManagementLife CycleAssessmentPrinciples and Framework3ISO 14041 Environmental ManagementLife CycleAssessmentGoal and Scope Definition3ISO 14042 Environmental ManagementLife CycleAssessmentLife Cycle Impact Assessment3ISO 14043 Environmental ManagementLife CycleAssessmentLife Cycle Interpretation3ISO 14049 Environmental ManagementLife CycleAssessmentExamples of Application of ISO 14041 toGoal and Scope Definition and Inventory Analysis32.3U.S.Federal Government Document:Public Law 107-171 Farm Security and Rural InvestmentAct,May 13,200243.Terminology3.1 Definitions:3.1.1 biobased material(s),nmaterials containing carbonbased compound(s)in which the carbon comes from contem-porary(non-fossil)biological sources.3.1.1.1 DiscussionCarbon in contemporary(new,of thatperiod)biological sources comes from recently fixed carbondioxid