Guidance for performing footprint analyses and life‐cycle assessments for the remediation industry

TLDR

The guidance promotes a consistent, repeatable, and transparent process that enables stakeholders to understand the intricacies and trade‑offs of footprint analyses and LCAs. It proposes a nine‑step process for conducting and documenting footprint analyses and LCAs for remediation projects, aiming to help practitioners evaluate impacts and mitigate preventable ones. The nine steps are flexible and scalable across projects and tools, and two fictional case studies illustrate how the guidance can be implemented. Case‑study results show that following the nine steps yields deeper insight, identifies opportunities to reduce project footprints, and supports improved sustainable remediation solutions, leading SURF to recommend the guidance for all footprint analyses and LCAs. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Abstract

Abstract The US Sustainable Remediation Forum (SURF) proposes a nine‐step process for conducting and documenting a footprint analysis and life‐cycle assessment (LCA) for remediation projects. This guidance is designed to assist remediation practitioners in evaluating the impacts resulting from potential remediation activities so that preventable impacts can be mitigated. Each of the nine steps is flexible and scalable to a full range of remediation projects and to the tools used by remediation practitioners for quantifying environmental metrics. Two fictional case studies are presented to demonstrate how the guidance can be implemented for a range of evaluations and tools. Case‐study findings show that greater insight into a study is achieved when the nine steps are followed and additional opportunities are provided to minimize remediation project footprints and create improved sustainable remediation solutions. This guidance promotes a consistent and repeatable process in which all pertinent information is provided in a transparent manner to allow stakeholders to comprehend the intricacies and tradeoffs inherent in a footprint analysis or LCA. For these reasons, SURF recommends that this guidance be used when a footprint analysis or LCA is completed for a remediation project. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.