Method and system for evaluating environmental impact occurring during an activity cycle

A method of evaluating environmental impact associated with an activity, the activity comprising production of a unit of a product from an item comprising virgin material and recycled material, the method comprising:

• storing in a first data storage a first data type associated with the item, the first data type comprising life cycle inventory data associated with the item,
• storing in a second data storage a second data type associated with the item, the second data type comprising grade information and recycle ratio information associated with the item,
• storing in a third data storage a third data type associated with the item, the third data type comprising modified life cycle inventory data associated with the item,
• providing a controller configured to compute a gross amount of virgin material for producing the unit by referring to the first data type, wherein the controller comprises a data evaluator, a correcting unit, a data storing unit, an item inputting unit and an impact evaluation unit, wherein the data evaluator is configured to retrieve the first data type from the first data storage, the correcting unit is configured to multiply the first data type into the third data type by applying the second data type, and the data storing unit is configured to store the third data type in the third data storage,
• computing a gross amount of virgin material for producing the unit by referring to life cycle inventory data associated with the item,
• multiplying the gross amount of virgin material by an amount of recycled material determined based on recycle ratio information associated with the item, and
• computing a true amount of virgin material for producing the unit by multiplying the gross amount of virgin material with grade information associated with the item,
• wherein the true amount of virgin material is stored as the third data type, wherein the step of computing a gross amount of virgin material comprises referring to the first data type, wherein the item inputting unit receives an item designator and third data type corresponding to the item designator, the impact evaluation unit retrieves impact-coefficient data for the item designator from a fourth data storage and multiplies the third data type with the impact-coefficient data.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer instructions for performing a method of evaluating environmental impact associated with an activity, the activity comprising production of a unit of a product from an item comprising virgin material and recycled material, the method comprising:

• providing a first data storage as an inventory database configured to store a first data type associated with the item, the first data type comprising life cycle inventory data associated with the item,
• providing a second data storage as an additional information database configured to store a second data type associated with the item, the second data type comprising grade information and recycle ratio information associated with the item,
• providing a third data storage as a corrected inventory database configured to store a third data type associated with the item, the third data type comprising modified life cycle inventory data associated with the item,
• providing a controller configured to compute a gross amount of virgin material for producing the unit by referring to the first data type, wherein the controller comprises a data evaluator, a correcting unit, a data storing unit, an item inputting unit and an impact evaluation unit, wherein the data evaluator is configured to retrieve the first data type from the first data storage, the correcting unit is configured to multiply the first data type into the third data type by applying the second data type, the data storing unit is configured to store the third data type in the third data storage,
• computing a gross amount of virgin material for producing the unit by referring to the first data type,
• multiplying the gross amount of virgin material by an amount of recycled material determined based on the recycle ratio information associated with the item,
• computing a true amount of virgin material for producing the unit by multiplying the gross amount of virgin material with grade information associated with the item, and
• storing the true amount of virgin material in the third data storage as the third data type,
• wherein the step of computing a gross amount of virgin material comprises referring to the first data type, and wherein the item inputting unit receives an item designator and third data type corresponding to the item designator, and the impact evaluation unit retrieves impact-coefficient data for the item designator from a fourth data storage, and multiplies the third data type with the impact-coefficient data.