Environmental life cycle responsibility for technical products

: Schmitt, D.; Ziegahn, K.-F.

Abstract
Technical products as goods, buildings and plants interact with the environment during their entire life cycle. Traditional environmental engineering focus in the behaviour of the product under various environmental conditions. Todays environmental concern needs also the observation of its vice versa effects, i.e. the effects of the product onto its environment. Ecological balance sheets for technical systems or measures have to be prepared regarding the whole life cycle including preparation of raw materials, processing, assembly, distribution, storage, service life, maintenance and waste disposal resp. recycling. From the environmental point of view, i.e. thinking global, only the overall evaluation is realistic and should be the baseline for a proper assessment. Consequently the life cycle analysis as it is being used in the traditional environmental engineering has to be applied. Producers as the originators of a technical product, should take over the responsibility for their prod ucts for the whole life cycle including final storage or recycling. At that point, classical environmental qualification will find its new challange as an important engineering tool for environmental protection. A product will get a better environmental compatibility evaluation if its proper function and endurance are being tested by environmental tests based on the principles of tests tailoring and therefore related to all phases of life cycle. Environmental engineering specialists have to grap the chance now. They have to claim the whole field of real environmental engineering, regarding both directions of actin between the technical object and the environment - the interaction. A quickly growing market for scientific and technical based solutions are being seen as more than a silver lining at the horizon of this centrury.