LCA & material health results & interpretation Commercial Wall-Hung Toilet CT708E(V)(G)
Scope and summary
- Cradle to gate
- Cradle to gate with options
- Cradle to grave
Functional unit
One toilet in an average U.S. commercial environment that functions for 10 years. The period of 10 years is modeled as the period of application based on the average economical lifespan for commercial applications. The technical lifespan is longer. The economical lifespan of commercial applications can be longer or lower due to aesthetic replacements or more intense use. The implication is that the LCA model assumes that the application ends at year 10 and that the materials will be treated in an end-of-life scenario.
Reference service life: 10 years
Default use phase scenario
10 years of service in an average U.S. commercial environment with 1.28 gallon/use and 133 uses/day resulting in 621,376 gallons of water.
What’s causing the greatest impacts
All life cycle stages
The use stage is dominating the results for all impact categories. This is mostly due to the embedded energy arising from acquisition, treatment and distribution of the water used during the operation of the product (91-98%). This is expected as this is a commercial product with a use stage that is very intensive among other sanitary products. The production stage itself and the construction/installation stage are slightly significant but not dominant in any impact category. The recovery stage includes recycling benefits by preventing the need to produce primary materials. Recycling is a relevant factor for all of the impact categories, offsetting a portion of the impacts caused by production. Additionally, the processes for dismantling the product and final waste treatment during the end of life stage do not have a significant impact.
Production stage
The ceramic parts dominate all impact categories except for ozone depletion, non-carcinogenics and eutrophication. The brass parts together with the injection molding process have dominating contributions to the ozone depletion, non-carcinogenics and eutrophication impact categories. The remaining parts and processes contribute between 4% and 23% of the overall impacts in the rest of the categories.
Sensitivity analysis
There are no sensitivity results that lead to variations greater than 10% in the LCA results.
TOTO PeoplePlanetWater™ programs improving environmental performance
- Dual-Max®, E-Max®, Tornado Flush™, 1G®, and EcoPower® reduce water consumption in the use phase
- Energy efficiency programs optimize the firing process
- 50% electricity from renewable energy
- 100% of post-industrial ceramic waste is recycled
LCA results
Life cycle stage | Production | Construction | Use | End of Life | Recovery |
Information modules: Stages D2 and D3 are being excluded. Operational energy use is irrelevant to the life cycle of the modeled product. Reuse and energy recovery are not modeled for toilets and/or urinals. |
A1 Raw Materials | A4 Transporation/ Delivery | B1 Use | C1 Deconstruction/ Demolition | D1 Recycling |
A2 Transportation | A5 Construction/ Installation | B2 Maintenance | C2 Transportation | D2 Recovery | |
A3 Manufacturing | B3 Repair | C3 Waste processing | D3 Reuse | ||
B4 Replacement | C4 Disposal | ||||
B5 Refurbishment | |||||
B6 Operational energy use | |||||
B7 Operational water use | |||||
SM Single Score
Learn about SM Single Score resultsImpacts per 10 years of service | 4.74 mPts | 1.07 mPts | 163.63 mPts | 0.06 mPts | -0.19 mPts |
Materials or processes contributing >20% to total impacts in each life cycle stage | Ceramic parts production as well as well zinc and brass parts together with zinc turning process. | Transportation of the product to installation site or consumer and disposal of packaging. | Volume of water use during the operation of the product and the embedded energy use (such as electricity) in the water used. | Transport to waste processing, waste processing and disposal of material flows transported to a landfill. | Plastic and metal components' recycling processes. |
TRACI
Life cycle stage | Production | Construction | Use | End of Life | Recovery |
Ecological damage
Human health damage
Resources depletion
Impact category | Unit | |||||
Fossil fuel depletion | MJ surplus Mega Joule surplus Fossil fuel depletion is the surplus energy to extract minerals and fossil fuels. |
1.22E+02 | 1.76E+01 | 1.43E+03 | 1.14E+00 | -2.80E+00 |
References
LCA Background Report
TOTO Sanitary Ceramic Products LCA Background Report (public version), TOTO 2014
SM Transparency Report Framework
Part A: Part A: LCA Calculation Rules and Background Report Requirements (Draft V2) (based on ISO14040-44, ISO14025 and EN15804)
Part B: Product Group Definition – Commercial Toilets
"Transparency Reports™ / environmental product declarations enable purchasers and users to compare the potential environmental performance of products on a life cycle basis. They are designed to present information transparently to make the limitations of comparability more understandable. TRs/EPDs of products that conform to the same PCR and include the same life cycle stages, but are made by different manufacturers, may not sufficiently align to support direct comparisons. They therefore, cannot be used as comparative assertions unless the conditions defined in ISO 14025 Section 6.7.2. ‘Requirements for Comparability’ are satisfied." EPDs from different programs (using different PCR) may not be comparable. TRs/EPDs cannot be compared if they do not have the same functional unit, reference service life, and building service life.