Transparency Catalog

LCA & material health results & interpretation Ultramax® MS854114E, MS604114CEFG, & MS604114CUFG

Scope and summary

Cradle to gate
Cradle to gate with options
Cradle to grave

Functional unit

One toilet in an average U.S. residential environment that functions for 20 years. The period of 20 years is an industry accepted average lifespan for residential tanks and their associated components; this is more limited due to changes in consumer preferences and innovations in water usage than the technical lifespan of the product. The vessel is assumed to be replaced at the same time as the tank. The implication is that the LCA model assumes that the application ends at year 20 and that the materials will be treated in an end-of-life scenario.

Reference service life: 20 years

Data Reporting Period: 2017

Default use phase scenario

Eco Ultramax MS854114E and Ultramax II MS604114CEFG: 20 years of service in a U.S. household with 1.28 gallon/use and 5.05 flushes/day and 2.67 people resulting in 125,990 gallons.

Ultramax II 1G MS604114CUFG: 20 years of service in a U.S. household with an average of 1.0 gallon/use and 5.05 flushes/day and 2.67 people resulting in approximately 98,430 gallons.

The toilet bowl is assumed to be cleaned weekly, 52 weeks per year, with 10mL of a 1% sodium lauryl sulfate solution.

What’s causing the greatest impacts

All life cycle stages

The use stage and the production stage are equally important and dominate the results for all impact categories. The impact of the use stage is mostly due to the embedded energy arising from acquisition, treatment and distribution of the water used during the operation of the product. The production stage has the most significant contributions to fossil fuel depletion (mostly defined by crude oil, hard coal and natural gas extraction activities as well as polypropylene manufacturing), non-carcinogenics (mostly defined by zinc production and processing, the natural gas used at the kiln and the disposal of hard coal ash) and ecotoxicity (mainly caused by electricity production, the disposal of slags and hard coal ash as well as zinc and copper production and processing).

The contributions covered under the construction/installation stage are mostly associated with the product delivery to the market and the disposal of packaging materials, mainly corrugated cardboard. The recovery stage includes recycling processes and benefits by preventing the need to produce primary materials. Recycling is a relevant factor for some of the impact categories, offsetting a portion of the impacts caused by production. Additionally, the delivery of the product to the construction/installation site as well as the processes for dismantling the product and final waste treatment during the end of life stage are slightly relevant in the majority of the impact categories.

Production stage

The ceramic parts dominate the material contribution except for eutrophication and non-carcinogenics. Corrugated board has major contributions to the eutrophication and non-carcinogenics impact categories. The die casting of zinc has a significant contribution to the non-carcinogenic impact category. The injection molding process has a significant contribution to the carcinogenics impact category while the steel parts have a significant contribution to fossil fuel depletion. The remaining parts and processes contribute between 7% and 18% of the overall impacts in the rest of the categories.

Sensitivity analysis

The deviations at the production stage are a combination of the variation in amount of the ceramic component of the two products (10-20% deviation) caused by the differences in the firing yield and production efficiency. Use phase deviations (over 20%) are a result of differences in the product’s water consumption and associated operational energy use. The Ultramax II 1G uses 22% less water than the other two Ultramax versions: The Eco Ultramax and Ultramax II. The deviations at the construction/installation and end of life stages are mainly due to the weight difference of the finished product after packaging, which is driven by the difference in the ceramic component weight in the two products.

Multi-product weighted average

Results represent the weighted average using production volumes for the products covered. Variations of specific products for differences of 10-20% against the average are indicated in purple; differences greater than 20% are indicated in red. A difference greater than 10% is considered significant.

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

See how we make it greener

LCA results

Life cycle stage	Production	Construction	Use	End of Life	Recovery
Information modules: Included \| Stages D2 and D3 are being excluded Installation and deconstruction/demolition are mostly manual. The toilets and/or urinals should not need repair, maintenance or replacement during the modeled life time. 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 Transportation/ 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 results

Impacts per 20 years of service	8.15 mPts	0.65 mPts	30.64 mPts	1.44 mPts	-0.49 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

A variation of 10 to 20%
|
A variation greater than 20%

Life cycle stage	Production	Construction	Use	End of Life	Recovery

Ecological damage

Impact category	Unit
Acidification	kg SO₂ eq Kilograms of Sulfur Dioxide equivalent Acidification processes increase the acidity of water and soil systems and causes damage to lakes, streams, rivers and various plants and animals as well as building materials, paints and other human-built structures.	4.01E-01	5.31E-02	2.28E+00	5.87E-03	-2.56E-02
Ecotoxicity	CTU_e Comparative Toxic Units of Ecotoxicity Ecotoxicity causes negative impacts to ecological receptors, and indirectly, to human receptors through the impacts to the ecosystem.	6.90E+01	1.62E+01	1.55E+02	1.86E+00	-2.73E+00
Eutrophication	kg N eqKilograms of Nitrogen equivalent Eutrophication is the enrichment of an aquatic ecosystem with nutrients (nitrates and phosphates) that accelerate biological productivity (growth of algae and weeds) and an undesirable accumulation of algal biomass which impacts industry, agriculture, drinking, fishing and recreation and causes death of fish and shellfish, toxicity to humans, marine mammals and livestock, and reduces biodiversity.	6.32E-02	6.35E-03	2.57E-01	5.46E-04	-7.07E-03
Global warming (Embodied carbon)	kg CO₂ eqKilograms of Carbon Dioxide equivalent Global warming is an average increase in the temperature of the atmosphere near the Earth’s surface and in the troposphere, which can contribute to change in global climate patterns and is caused by the increase of the sources of greenhouse gases and decrease of the sinks due to deforestation and land use. GW leads to problems in human health, agriculture, forest, water source and damage to species and biodiversity as well as coastal areas.	1.16E+02	8.50E+00	4.38E+02	1.12E+00	-3.03E+00
Ozone depletion	kg CFC-11 eq Kilograms of Trichlorofluoromethane equivalent Ozone depletion is the reduction of ozone in the stratosphere caused by the release of ozone depleting chemicals. Ozone depletion can increases ultraviolet B radiation to the earth which can adversely affect human health (skin cancer and cataracts and immune-system suppression) and other system (marine life, agricultural crops, and other vegetation) and causes damage to human-built materials.	5.91E-06	1.89E-08	3.32E-05	1.23E-07	-2.73E-07

Human health damage

Impact category	Unit
Carcinogenics	CTU_h Comparative Toxic Units of Human cancerous toxicity Carcinogens have the potential to form cancers in humans.	1.40E-06	9.20E-08	8.99E-06	1.21E-08	-1.43E-07
Non-carcinogenics	CTU_h Comparative Toxic Units of Human non-cancerous toxicity Non-Carcinogens have the potential to causes non-cancerous adverse impacts to human health.	2.09E-05	8.59E-07	4.14E-05	9.90E-08	-1.06E-06
Respiratory effects	kg PM_2.5 eqKilograms of Particulate Matter equivalent which are smaller than or equal to 2.5 micrometers in diameter Particulate matter concentrations have a strong influence on chronic and acute respiratory symptoms and mortality rates.	3.38E-02	9.19E-04	1.56E-01	3.21E-04	-3.21E-03
Smog	kg O₃ eqKilograms of Ozone equivalent Smog formation (photochemical oxidant formation) is the formation of ozone molecules in the troposphere by complex chemical reactions which are influenced by ambient concentrations of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), the mix of organic compounds (OCs), temperature, sunlight and convective flows. Ozone concentrations in the Earth’s atmosphere above the natural trace amounts lead to detrimental impacts on human health and ecosystems.	6.50E+00	1.63E+00	2.13E+01	1.66E-01	-4.06E-01

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.	1.95E+02	1.17E+01	2.75E+02	2.18E+00	-4.82E+00

References

LCA Background Report
TOTO Sanitary Ceramic Products LCA Background Report (public version), TOTO 2014

SM Transparency Report Framework
Part A: LCA Calculation Rules and Background Report Requirements (Draft V2) (based on ISO14040-44, ISO14025 and EN15804)
Part B: Product Group Definition – Residential 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.