GB/T 37552-2019Guidance on life cycle assessment for electrical and electronic products (English PDF)

3.1 Life cycle

A series of consecutive stages in the product system that obtains raw materials from nature or natural resources until the final disposal. [GB/T 24040-2008, definition 3.1]

NOTE: Products and substances include raw materials, intermediate products, symbiotic products and emissions. [GB/T 24040-2008, definition 3.25]

3.9 Allocation

DIVIDE the input and output flows in the process or product system INTO the product system under research AND one or more other product systems. [GB/T 24040-2008, definition 3.17]

3.10 Reference flow

In a given product system, the process output quantity required to realize the function of a functional unit. [GB/T 24040-2008, definition 3.29]

3.11 Elementary flow

Substances and energies that are taken from the environment, and are not artificially transformed before entering the researched system; or the substances and energies that no longer undergo the artificial transformation after leaving the researched system and entering the environment. [GB/T 24040-2008, definition 3.12]

3.12 Intermediate flow

The flow of products, substances, and energies between the unit processes of the product system under research. [GB/T 24040-2008, definition 3.22]

3.13 Reference product

A product or product system that is provided by the manufacturer, simulated in the life cycle assessment and capable of realizing the specified functional unit.

3.14 Reference service life; RSL

The expected service life that is based on a set of specific use conditions, and can be used to estimate the service life under other use conditions.

NOTE 1: Rewrite ISO 21930, definition 3.2.12.

NOTE 2: The reference service life is also called the "typical life", which is a theoretical period for calculation purposes. It may be different from the shortest, average or actual service life of […]

4.1 Overview

The functional unit of the product should include:

--- The function of the product shall be described as the service to the user;

--- The performance or required level of the product function, the level shall be quantified, which can be determined by referring to the product standard;

--- The reference service life of the product. The reference flow of the corresponding functional unit shall include:

--- The quantity and quality of reference products;

--- All packages of the reference product in the life cycle;

--- Necessary products that are used in the installation, maintenance or removal of the reference product.

4.2 System boundary

4.2.1 General

The life cycle of electrical and electronic products shall include the following stages:

--- Raw material acquisition and manufacturing stage: from acquiring natural resources to product and packaging manufacturing, and transporting them to the logistics center;

--- Distribution stage: transporting from the manufacturer's logistics center to the place of use of the product (applicable to B2B) / sales location (applicable to B2C);

--- Installation stage: suitable for installing the product at the place of use;

--- Use stage: use the product, and the necessary maintenance to ensure the use of the product;

--- End-of-life stage: removing, disassembling, transporting end-of-life products to the disposal site, and carrying out end-of-life treatment.

For electrical and electronic products, a full life cycle assessment (from "cradle to grave") shall be carried out for the final product; that is, from the raw material acquisition and manufacturing stage to the end-of-life stage. For intermediate products,

4.2.4 Installation stage

If applicable, the following processes shall be considered during the installation stage:

a) The manufacturing, packaging and purchasing of materials that are not found in the reference product but required during the installation process;

b) Installation process;

c) Management (collection and treatment until the final waste state) of waste generated at the installation site, including but not limited to:

--- Package;

--- Discarded installation materials;

--- Relevant waste during installation.

4.2.5 Use stage In the use stage of the reference product, the product shall be considered to operate under normal conditions. The following processes shall be considered in the use stage:

a) The operation process of the product during the reference service life;

b) If applicable, the maintenance process during the reference service life of the product.

4.2.6 End-of-life stage

The following processes shall be considered at the product end-of-life stage:

a) The transportation that is required to collect the end-of-life products, and the transportation from the product collection location to the final disposal location;

b) The treatment process until the final disposal.

4.2.7 Exclusions in the system boundary

The following processes are not directly related to the product production process and may be excluded:

--- Basic lighting, heating, sanitation and cleaning facilities of the factory;

--- Employee transportation;

--- Activities of administrative, management and R&D departments;

--- Reference service life;

--- Load level, activity level;

--- The assumptions (e.g.: the use rate during the reference service life) of key use scenario.

The above criteria shall make the energy that is consumed and/or dissipated and other flows measurable.

The operating and maintenance conditions that are specified by the manufacturer shall include:

--- If applicable, maintenance frequency;

--- Parts, products and solvents that are used for the maintenance/operation of reference product;

--- Consumables that are needed for product operation.

4.3 Data collection

4.3.1.4 End-of-life treatment

The following treatment scenarios shall be considered for all factors of the end of life:

a) Product/material recycling (reuse, regenerating);

b) Product/material disposal process (energy recovery, landfill, including treating the secondary waste generated during the process).

If the end-of-life processing data cannot be obtained, the average end-of-life product transportation distance and the category of waste material shall be used to obtain the data. Examples of renewable utilization rates of raw materials and components may be found in IEC/TR 62635.

4.3.2 Data unit

International units shall be used.

4.3.3 Requirements for raw data collection

All evaluable input and output flows within the scope of analysis shall be introduced.

The input and output related to the reference flow in each unit process within the system boundary shall be collected, including but not limited to:

--- Material consumption, energy consumption and water consumption;

--- Discharge to air, water and soil;

4.4 Data quality assessment

For all unit processes in the system boundary, the quality of the raw data and secondary data shall be evaluated. According to the requirements of GB/T 24044, data quality assessment shall consider the following factors:

--- The time period of the data;

--- The geographic range of the data;

--- The technical range of the data;

--- The accuracy of the data;

--- The integrity of the data;

--- The representativeness of the data;

--- The consistency of the data.

4.5 Selection criteria

All evaluable inputs and outputs within the scope of life cycle assessment shall be included:

--- By collecting raw data for tracing the primary flow, if the data is available;

- Or, secondary data that are obtained from scientific models in life cycle inventory databases or documents.

The principle of selection may be adopted to ignore the inputs and outputs that have little impact on the results of the life cycle assessment, including:

a) Parts, raw materials, and auxiliary materials that are 1% less than the product weight and are composed of non-rare precious metals or non-high purity (purity is greater than 99.99%) substances may be ignored;

b) Parts, raw materials and auxiliary materials that are 0.1% less than the product weight and are composed of rare precious metals or high purity (purity is greater than 99.99%) substances can be ignored.

The total weight sum of the ignored input and output parts, raw materials and auxiliary materials shall not exceed 5% of the product weight.

4.6 Environmental impact indicators

Environmental impact indicators may include but are not limited to:

--- Climate change, which is expressed in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent material, energy, consumption, etc.) in a homogeneous environment family; conduct sensitivity analysis to identify influential parameters, and then propose inference rules;

--- The inference rules shall be stated in the life cycle assessment report.

The process of specifying inference rules shall be recorded in the life cycle report.

5.1 Overview

--- General information (corresponding to 5.2);

--- Reference flow and functional unit (corresponding to 5.3);

--- Life cycle inventory (corresponding to 5.4);

--- Elementary flow list;

--- Environmental indicators (corresponding to 5.5);

--- Additional environmental information.

NOTE: The format and view are chosen by the enterprise.

5.2 General information

The life cycle report shall include:

--- Report date;

--- The name of the person who drafts the report;

--- The product category rules that are used in the report;

--- The number of the life cycle report.

The life cycle report shall include the following information: […]

5.3 Reference flow and functional unit

The life cycle assessment report shall include:

a) The reference flow specified in 4.1;

b) Product category;

It is advisable to add a flowchart of the raw material acquisition and manufacturing stages.

5.4 Life cycle inventory

5.4.2.2 Sales stage

The life cycle report shall propose the transportation scenario from the manufacturer's platform to the logistics center, and the corresponding data. The transportation data other than 4.3.1.2 should be clearly proposed, described and justified (for example, internal transportation statistics of the enterprise).

5.4.2.3 Installation stage

If applicable, the life cycle report shall:

--- Clearly identify and quantify each component, process (e.g., quality, capacity, quantity, etc.) and the type of energy required to install the product, and the corresponding data;

--- Identify and propose reasons for approximation or exclusion of materials, parts or processes.

5.4.2.5 End-of-life stage

The life cycle report shall:

--- Propose and identify transportation scenarios and corresponding data;

--- Describe the end-of-life scenarios of the product and the corresponding data;

--- Identify and propose approximation or exclusions for end-of-life scenarios. […]