Final Report Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of an Artificial Christmas Tree and a Natural Christmas Tree for American Christmas Tree Association West Hollywood, California by PE Americas Boston, MA November 2010 Contacts: PE Americas Susan Fredholm Murphy 344 Boylston Street Laura Mar Boston, MA 02116, USA Sabine Deimling Torsten Rehl Marc Binder Phone +1 [617] 247‐4477 Nuno da Silva Fax +1 [617] 236‐2033 E‐mail s.murphy@pe‐international.com l.mar@pe‐international.com n.daSilva@pe‐international.com Internet www.pe‐americas.com TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 PROJECT CONTEXT AND STUDY GOALS .................................................................................. 7 2 SCOPE OF THE STUDY ................................................................................................................. 8 2.1 DEFINITION OF PRODUCT SYSTEMS ........................................................................................ 8 2.1.1 Artificial Tree ....................................................................................................................... 8 2.1.2 Natural Tree ........................................................................................................................ 8 2.2 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION OVERVIEW .......................................................................................... 9 2.3 FUNCTIONAL UNIT .................................................................................................................. 9 2.4 STUDY BOUNDARIES ............................................................................................................ 10 2.4.1 Technology Coverage ....................................................................................................... 11 2.4.2 Geographic & Time Coverage .......................................................................................... 11 2.5 SELECTION OF IMPACT ASSESSMENT CATEGORIES ............................................................... 12 2.5.1 Included Impact Categories .............................................................................................. 12 2.5.2 Common Excluded Impact Categories.............................................................................. 13 2.5.2.1 Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) ..................................................................................... 13 2.5.2.2 Toxicity .............................................................................................................................. 13 2.5.2.3 Fossil Fuel Depletion ........................................................................................................ 14 2.5.3 Normalization, Grouping and Weighting ........................................................................... 14 2.6 DATA COLLECTION............................................................................................................... 14 2.6.1 Artificial Tree Production ................................................................................................... 14 2.6.2 Natural Tree Cultivation .................................................................................................... 15 2.6.3 Transportation ................................................................................................................... 15 2.6.4 End-of-Life ........................................................................................................................ 16 2.6.5 Fuels and Energy – Upstream Data .................................................................................. 16 2.6.6 Raw and process materials ............................................................................................... 16 2.6.7 Co-product and By-product Allocation .............................................................................. 17 2.6.8 Emissions to Air, Water and Soil ....................................................................................... 18 2.6.9 Cut-off Criteria .................................................................................................................. 19 2.6.10 Data Quality ...................................................................................................................... 19 2.6.11 Exceptions ........................................................................................................................ 20 2.7 SOFTWARE AND DATABASE .................................................................................................. 21 2.8 ANALYSIS OF RESULTS ........................................................................................................ 21 2.9 CRITICAL REVIEW ................................................................................................................ 21 3 LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY (LCI) ................................................................................................... 23 3.1 ARTIFICIAL TREE.................................................................................................................. 24 3.1.1 Manufacturing ................................................................................................................... 24 3.1.2 Finished Tree to Home ..................................................................................................... 30 3.1.3 Use Phase ........................................................................................................................ 30 3.1.4 Disposal (End-of-Life) ....................................................................................................... 30 3.1.5 Transport of Artificial Tree ................................................................................................. 30 3.2 NATURAL TREE .................................................................................................................... 31 3.2.1 Tree Cultivation ................................................................................................................. 32 3.2.1.1 Cultivation Boundary Conditions ....................................................................................... 32 3.2.1.2 Seeds to Young Trees ...................................................................................................... 34 3.2.1.3 Mowing ............................................................................................................................. 35 3.2.1.4 Fertilization ....................................................................................................................... 36 3.2.1.5 Pesticide Treatment .......................................................................................................... 36 3.2.1.6 Post harvest treatment at farm .......................................................................................... 39 3.2.1.7 Baling ................................................................................................................................ 39 3.2.1.8 Carbon Uptake and Emissions During Cultivation ............................................................ 40 3.2.2 Finished Tree to Home ..................................................................................................... 40 3.2.3 Use Phase ........................................................................................................................ 41 PE Americas 1 Final Report: November 2010 3.2.4 End-of-Life ........................................................................................................................ 42 3.2.4.1 US Landfill Boundary Conditions ...................................................................................... 44 3.2.4.2 US Incineration Boundary Conditions ............................................................................... 45 3.2.4.3 US Composting Boundary Conditions .............................................................................. 45 3.2.5 Transport of Natural Tree .................................................................................................. 46 4 RESULT ANALYSIS ...................................................................................................................... 48 4.1 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ................................................................................................. 48 4.2 END-OF-LIFE CONSIDERATIONS ........................................................................................... 48 4.3 SUMMARY OF RESULTS ........................................................................................................ 49 4.4 PRIMARY ENERGY DEMAND FROM NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCES ......................................... 50 4.4.1 End-of-Life Scenario A. 100% Landfill .............................................................................. 52 4.4.2 End-of-Life Scenario B. 100% Incineration ....................................................................... 52 4.4.3 End-of-Life Scenario C. 100% Compost ........................................................................... 52 4.5 GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL (GWP)/ CARBON FOOTPRINT ................................................. 53 4.5.1 End-of-Life Scenario A. 100% Landfill .............................................................................. 55 4.5.2 End-of-Life Scenario B. 100% Incineration ....................................................................... 55 4.5.3 End-of-Life Scenario C. 100% Compost ........................................................................... 55 4.6 AIR ACIDIFICATION POTENTIAL (ACID