Life cycle thinking in Polish official documents and research

Environmental Protection Law—the Act of April 27, 2001 (Law Gazette No. 62, item 627) In article 143 concerning the requirements to be fulfilled in the case of new technologies used in newly started or significantly modified installations or devices, it is stated that they should apply product life cycle assessment. However, this regulation was valid only until May 18, 2005 when it was repealed by the Act changing the Environmental Protection Law.

II State Ecological Policy, accepted by the Council of Ministers in June 2000 and the Polish Parliament in August 2001 In Chapter 1, “Initial Assumptions”, item 1.4 “Ecologization of the sector policies”, considering the methods for realizing the state ecological policy, it is said that priority will be given to the “good management practices” and environmental management systems which make it possible to combine economic and ecological effects. Particularly in industry and power engineering, the realization of product life cycle-oriented policy is expected to limit the amount of waste produced. In Chapter 2, “Goals of the ecological policy regarding the rational use of natural resources”, item 2.2 on “Decreasing the material consumption and process waste production”, there is a regulation concerning mean-term goals (until 2010) which broadly popularizes product life cycle assessment including environmental impact assessment. A further mean-term goal is the implementation of the statutory duty to perform such assessments for groups of products characterized by high material consumption and waste production as well as products containing hazardous substances. In Chapter 3, “Goals of the ecological policy regarding the environmental quality”, item 3.1. on “Waste Management”, it is documented that the principle of sustainable development and integrated approach to environmental protection, including the problems of responsibility, constitute the main policy line as regards waste management. The overriding goal of waste management policy is to prevent waste production by solving the problem of waste at its source, which means to recover raw materials, to re-use waste products, and to dispose unusable waste in a manner that is safe to the environment. The realization of this goal requires a decrease in industrial material and energy consumption, the use of clean technologies, the use of alternative, renewable sources of energy, and the assessment of the whole product life cycle (production, transport, packaging, use, possible re-use and disposal). Item 3.3 on “Air quality. Climate changes” states that the characteristics of the new policy regarding air pollution control are actions such as the implementation of product standards limiting the emission of pollutants resulting from the whole product life cycle—starting with raw material extraction and its processing, via the manufacturing of new products and their use, and ending in the transition to the waste form¹.

State Ecological Policy for the years 2003–2006 including the prospects for the years 2007–2010 ² published in December 2002. Chapter 3, “Sustainable use of raw materials, water and energy as the task for the years 2003–2006”, introduces the duty to assess the life cycle of selected products.

Strategy for changing production and consumption models to those favoring the realization of constant, sustainable development principles ³—a governmental document, elaborated by the Ministry of Economy, Labor and Social Policy, and accepted by the Council of Ministers on October 14, 2003. It is proposed to support investments in environmental protection, to include Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPD).

Strategy for implementing the integrated product policy into Poland ⁴. This document was elaborated on by the Ministry of the Environment and accepted by the European Committee of the Council of Ministers on February 25, 2005. The realization of this strategy in Poland includes:

research and expertise, e.g., legal and institutional changes for using economic instruments for environmental protection, application of green public procurement, analysis and assessment of the possibility to introduce pro-ecological tax reform in Poland, introduction of ecological accounting in Poland using life cycle perspective, making life cycle information and interpretative tools available, cost internalization and its influence on economy competitiveness;

promotion and education actions—conferences, seminars, e.g., on eco-labeling, EMAS, etc.;

coordination actions.

The Road Map for Implementing the Environmental Technologies Action Plan (KETAP) in Poland was published by the Ministry of the Environment in 2006⁵. The chapter on public procurement presents the tasks of environmental technologies, i.e.:

encouraging the conclusion of public procurement contracts ensuring the use of environmental criteria and new environmental technologies;

promoting the use of product / service life cycle assessment.

The importance of the life cycle method has been stressed in the Country Development Strategy for the Years 2007–2015 ⁶ which was accepted by the Council of Ministers on November 29, 2006. The strategy discusses the importance of eco-innovations—including support to investment activities / organizational solutions—and spatial management methods. At the same time, the realized activities should lead to: fundamental limitations regarding the use of natural resources per unit of product or service, replacement of non-renewable resources by renewable resources, considerable limitation of pollutants emitted into air, water and soil, decrease in the degradation of the environment and reduction of the noise level.

Entrepreneurs who apply for financial assistance from the EU funds in the years 2007–2013, within the Innovative Economy Operational Program ⁷, should demonstrate the effects of decreased environmental impacts resulting from limited energy, material and water consumption of products and services, and the use of Life Cycle Assessment at all stages of technological process design.

State Ecological Policy for the years 2007–2010 including prospects for the years 2011–2014⁸ was elaborated on by the Ministry of the Environment in December 2006. Chapter 2, “Development of the system for assessing influences in the product life cycle and estimating…”, states that the improvement of the environmental management system consists of developing a system for assessing influences in the product life cycle and estimating material flows, which are the elements of the Integrated Product Policy.