Client: V-ZUG
Project team: Mischa Zschokke, Fabian Elsener
Services: Life cycle assessment, Education and Workshops
Year: 2020 – ongoing
V-ZUG is a well-known Swiss producer and supplier of household appliances. Carbotech has been supporting the company for several years. First in the calculation of life cycle assessments for individual products, and finally in the implementation of the results in the sustainability strategy.
The cooperation between Carbotech and V-ZUG began in 2020 with an input lecture and workshop on the topic of life cycle assessments. Following the workshop, Carbotech was able to support V-ZUG in the calculation of a first life cycle assessment for an automatic washing machine and in the preparation of the sustainability report. In V-ZUG’s sustainability strategy, life cycle assessments are used to define goals and measure the progress of products and production operations. However, the results are also used to design more environmentally friendly products. Consequently, Carbotech has supported V-ZUG in building up and deepening its own expertise in life cycle assessment and continues to provide advice. Together, particularly tricky questions are answered, new products developed and reduction paths defined.
Repair or new purchase
Over 300 V-ZUG service technicians are on the job every day. They are regularly confronted with the question of whether the repair of a defective appliance is worthwhile or whether a new appliance should be sold. In future, V-ZUG wants to be able to answer this question not only from an economic point of view, but also from an ecological one. As a result, a decision-making tool has been developed, with which the service technicians on site can make a decision as to whether a repair or a new purchase is more worthwhile from an ecological point of view. As soon as further LCA data is available, the decision-making tool can be extended to other product categories than washing machines.
V-ZUG’s operating balance is increasingly being improved through sustainable product design, reduction paths and reduction of emissions. Household appliances that are produced more sustainably and consume fewer resources in operation also have a positive impact on the footprint of the end user. In this way, we are also able to achieve a socially relevant impact in our collaboration with V-ZUG. We are all the more pleased to be able to accompany V-ZUG into a more environmentally friendly future.
