Life cycle assessment of a mobile phone

Abstract

The environment has been under constant stress from human activities. An energy crisis in the 1970s and the publication of Limits to Growth eventually contributed to heightened awareness of environmental impacts contributed by human activities. This eventually led to the formulation of the Life Cycle Assessment. The Life Cycle Assessment is a 'cradle-to-grave' approach of carrying out the evaluation of effects that a product has on the environment over the entire product life. The product analyzed in this project is a mobile phone. There are currently 1.5 billion mobile phone subscribers in the world and this number is fast increasing. This means that the rate of disposal is great as general consumer behavior suggests frequent replacement of mobile phones. This project aims at coming up with a result for the environmental impacts of a mobile phone. This is done by carrying out the necessary steps suggested by the International Standards Organization.