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
Relevant Value Chain Layers and their Dimensions
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.
Readiness fit
- Not started / Understanding the potential
- Planning pilot Implementation
- Piloting initiatives
- Planning scale-up
- Scaling up initiatives / Full scale implemented
Decision level
- Strategic
- Tactical
- Operational
Participation
- Individual
- Team
Phase of transition path
- Explore strategic opportunities
- Define direction
- Develop initiative
- Evaluate & plan implementation