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Life cycle analysis of the newspaper le monde

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Abstract

On behalf of the French press group Le MONDE, four newspapers have been examined in a Life Cycle Assessment study. The products were the newspaper actually produced and sold in 1995, two other 1995 versions with reduced amounts of unsold circulation and an improved version manufactured under adequate management control and using paper, inks, printing plates and packaging material with lower environmental impacts.

Results include the following

  1. •

    An improved distribution, reducing the unsold circulation by 40% and 80%, does not reduce significantly the relative effect score of the different environmental impacts because the effects of the internal management are predominant.

  2. •

    The development of an improved version of Le MONDE depends more on managerial will than on technical decisions.

  3. •

    The use of vegetal inks improves significantly the air quality inside the printing plant as well as the photochemical oxidant potential.

System boundaries and references are given in the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. U.F. Environnement, University Paris 7 Denis Diderot, 2 place Jussieu, F-75251, Paris Cedex 05, France

    Christophe Rafenberg & Eric Mayer

Authors
  1. Christophe Rafenberg
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  2. Eric Mayer
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Correspondence to Eric Mayer.

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Rafenberg, C., Eric, M. Life cycle analysis of the newspaper le monde. Int. J. LCA. 3, 131–144 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02978822

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02978822

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