MECO Analysis
Perform a screening of your products environmental impact
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What is the tool about?
A MECO is a screening of the environmental impact of a product in four categories Materials, Energy, Chemicals and Others distributed on at least five stages of a product life cycle; material extraction, manufacturing, transport, use and end-of-life.
The valuable outcome
Understanding of the product life cycle of the product
Pinpointing of environmental hotspots
Preparation for use
We recommend that you familiarise yourself with the approach around a MECO analysis e.g. by reading the source article that gives a practical guide to life cycle screening.
Preparation Time: 0-2 hour(s) depending on your level of experience.
Competencies involved: Sector-specific knowledge, life cycle thinking, technology, business development
Tool kit: Environmental improvement through product development is a good place to start. It is recommended to create a functional unit and to conduct a MFA before beginning on the MECO.
The steps to take
We recommend you to have created a functional unit and conducted a mapping of material flows (e.g. product life cycle mapping or material flow analysis) before taking the following steps:
Step 1: Agree on the scope of the MECO Analysis (1 hour):
- Is it to gain a preliminary understanding of where in the system different environmental impacts occur?
- Or is it to make a quantitative screening and to identify hotspots?
- How precise do you need the screening to be to be comfortable with the results?
Step 2: Discuss the environmental impacts of the product and allocate the impact to the life cycle stage for which it occurs (2-3 hours)
Step 3: Next, split the environmental impact into the four MECO categories; Materials, Energy, Chemicals, and Others (1hour).
Step 4: Review and discuss the table (2 hours):
- Where do the top 5 impacts seem to occur (hotspots)?
- Is that something that you can change?
Consider if you are satisfied with the degree of detail to proceed or if you need to quantify the impacts.
Step 5 (Optional): Need to quantify the impacts? You can either to it manually by e.g., following the calculation methods presented in ‘Håndbog I miljøvurdering’ or use a simplified Life Cycle Assessment tool e.g. CES Eco Audit.
Step 6: Discuss how you can minimise the environmental impacts. What circular design or business strategies will be most effective to minimise the environmental impacts?
Total co-creation time: 2-7 hours.
Setting: Workshops, desktop research, and possibly audits.
Keywords
life-cycle; life-cycle check; meco; product life-cycle; screening; materials; energy; chemicals;
Source article
Title: Product Life Cycle Check: a guide
Authored by Henrik Wenzel and Nina Caspersen, Institute for Product Development, Anders Schmidt, dk-TEKNIK Special edition adapted for course 42372, Tech.University of Denmark by dr. Michael Hauschild, September 2000.
Decision level
- Strategic
- Tactical
- Operational
Participation
- Individual
- Team
Phase of transition path
- Explore strategic opportunities
- Define direction
- Develop initiative
- Evaluate & plan implementation