A framework of criteria for the sustainability assessment of nanoproducts

JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION

卷:126

Article

Cinelli, Marco¹  Coles, Stuart R.¹  Sadik, Omowunmi²  Karn, Barbara³  Kirwan, Kerry¹ 

[1] Univ Warwick, WMG, Gibbet Hill Rd, Coventry CV4 7AL, W Midlands, England

[2] SUNY Binghamton, Dept Chem, Binghamton, NY 13902 USA

[3] Sustainable Nanotechnol Org, 2020 Penn Ave NW, Washington, DC 20006 USA

关键词: Sustainability assessment;    Decision-making;    Nanoproducts;    Nanotechnology;    Criteria;    Survey;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.02.118

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Nanotechnology applications (nanoproducts) have entered the market or are expected to do so in the near future. Robust and science-based criteria are required to appraise and manage their sustainability. This paper describes the approach used to develop a comprehensive and reliable framework of criteria, which was missing until now, for evaluating the sustainability of nanoproducts. A literature review of the frameworks and tools employed to assess nanoproducts sustainability implications was firstly performed to select an initial set of criteria. A survey of experts in the sustainable nanotechnology domain was then conducted to elicit their knowledge in terms of completeness, reliability and validity of the criteria set. Ranking and correlation analyses completed the research by identifying the parameters of major interest as well as the links and dependencies between them. A total of 54 and 65 experts replied to the pilot and main survey, respectively. The reliability and validity of the criteria was assessed with the responses from both questionnaires, whereas the answers from the main survey were used to calculate the relative index of the criteria as well as their correlations. This research resulted in a framework composed of 68 criteria, which are structured into six main areas: (i) economic performance; (ii) environmental impacts, (iii) environmental risk assessment; (iv) human health risk assessment; (v) social implications and (vi) technical performance. This study helps to broaden the understanding on the identification of criteria for sustainability assessments. It also provides those interested in evaluating nanotechnology implications with the basis for real case studies, possibly by integrating available information with the stakeholders using tools that support decision -making. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.orgilicensesiby/4.0/).

【 授权许可】

Free