Life cycle assessment for selected Blue Lagoon skincare products

This thesis is confidential. The Blue Lagoon ltd produces variety of skincare products by using natural ingredients appearing as by-products of geothermal energy harvesting in Svartsengi, Iceland. The goal of the study was to identify opportunities for reducing environmental impacts of two selected...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Silvana Loayza Leon 1991-
Other Authors: Háskólinn í Reykjavík
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1946/42087
Description
Summary:This thesis is confidential. The Blue Lagoon ltd produces variety of skincare products by using natural ingredients appearing as by-products of geothermal energy harvesting in Svartsengi, Iceland. The goal of the study was to identify opportunities for reducing environmental impacts of two selected skincare products by applying Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the products for two distinct scenarios; 1) produced outside Iceland, and 2) produced in Iceland. A cradle-to-grave LCA based on the ReCiPe2016 method was executed. Results indicates that overall impacts are lower by producing in Iceland rather than abroad. Future studies focused on packaging materials, and a complete sustainability assessment regarding the economic and social areas from the same product system are recomendad to optimize processes. Bláa lónið framleiðir fjölþætt úrval virkra húðvara með því að nota náttúruleg hráefni úr sínu nær umhverfi, sem voru hrakstraumar frá nærliggjandi jarðvarmaveri í Svartsengi á Reykjanesi. Markmið rannsóknarinnar var að bera kennsl á tækifæri til þess að draga úr umhverfisáhrifum tveggja húðvara með því að beita lífsferilsmati (LCA) fyrir tvær mismunandi aðstæður;1) framleiðsla utan Íslands og 2) framleiðsla á Íslandi. LCA frá vöggu til grafar, byggð á ReCiPe2016 aðferðum, var framkvæmd. Niðurstöður benda til þess að heildaráhrif séu minni af framleiðslu hér á landi frekar en erlendis. Mælt er með frekari rannsóknum á mismunandi gerðum umbúða húðvaranna sem og heildstætt sjálfbærnimat varðandi efnahagslega og félagslega þætti til þess að betrumbæta framleiðsluferlanna. This work was funded by the Sustainability Institute & Forum (SIF) grant in cooperation with the Blue Lagoon Research and Development Center. The thesis is closed according to the non disclosure agreement signed for the Blue Lagoon ltd.