A company supplies wire on steel reels. The company needs to make 24 deliveries and starts with four new reels.
Route A: each reel is used for six deliveries. Between deliveries, the reel is prepared for reuse. After its sixth delivery, the reel is recycled and reformed.
Route B: after every delivery, the reel is recycled and reformed.
After the 24 deliveries, the reels are recycled and reformed in both routes, so each route finishes with four reels.
The table shows the energy used each time one reel is processed.
| Process | Energy used per reel in MJ |
|---|---|
| Prepare a reel for reuse | 8.0 |
| Recycle and reform a reel | 44.0 |
Calculate the energy saved by using Route A instead of Route B for the 24 deliveries.
The company concludes that Route A has a smaller total environmental impact than Route B.
Use your answer to part (a) and your knowledge of life cycle assessments to evaluate this conclusion.
99 exam-style questions on AQA GCSE Chemistry 10.2 Life cycle assessment and recycling, covering 10.2.1 Life cycle assessment and 10.2.2 Ways of reducing the use of resources. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.