5. Conclusion

While the notion of environmental performance is now well known and increasingly taken into consideration in the manufacture of consumer products, many industrial sectors are still unfamiliar with the tools needed to analyze the environmental impact of their processes.

TRS processes are an integral part of the life cycle of manufactured products. As such, their inclusion in product LCA is essential, as are all industrial systems, even if they are only one link in a long manufacturing chain.

The surface treatment sector, already heavily affected by environmental issues (ban on chromium VI under REACH, ICPE regulations), possesses most of the knowledge needed to control the flows involved in SRT processes. However, mastering the LCA tool requires new skills:

• assimilation of standards...