Danish experience with the EDIP tool for environmental design of industrial products

Since its publication in, 1996, the Danish method and tools for the environmental design of industrial products (EDIP) have been used in companies in Denmark and abroad, and experience has been gained with a variety of product categories such as electronics, electromechanical products, furniture, foodstuffs, packaging, textiles, building equipment, energy systems and railway systems.

The experience shows that large environmental improvement potentials can be found in all product categories. As a broad average, 30-50% environmental improvement of products have been implemented over few years by companies working with the EDIP tools. The paper presents examples from pumps, refrigerator, high pressure cleaners audio/video products, book shelves and moulded cardboards.

A questionnaire investigation of the experience with life cycle assessment (LCA) and ecodesign within the Danish pioneer companies in the area was made in November 1997. A total of 39 companies, known to have worked more or less with LCA and ecodesign, were contacted, and 26 companies volunteered to participate.

The investigation covered from small (8 employees) to large (>7000 employees) companies having from very little to several years of experience with LCA and ecodesign. The attitude towards the disciplines were mainly positive: 70% of the companies claim that the LCA work has resulted in new priorities in product development.

More than 70% of the companies stated that they would continue to include LCA in their product development in the future. Abort 80% of these companies use the EDIP method and tools