9. Environmental management: product approach

9.1 Principle of eco-design

Every product generates environmental impacts throughout its life cycle, from the natural resources and energy it consumes, to the waste it emits, and the way it is treated at the end of its life. The eco-design approach has two main characteristics:

• this is a multi-stage approach, which considers the entire product life cycle from raw material extraction to end-of-life;

• is a multi-criteria approach that takes into account all the environmental impacts generated by the product, such as the use of raw materials, water and energy consumption, discharges into water, air and soil, waste production, and changes to the natural environment and living environment.

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