The flow chart illustrates the environmental issues caused by a product throughout its life cycle.
Overall the diagram shows 7 steps of the products life cycle starting from planning and designing it all the way to recycling the product, environmental problems may appear in any of the stages but it has the most impact at disposal.
The first step consists of planning and designing the product. In the second step materials and energy resources are gathered, which is consumed to create the product. Step 3 is where the product is actually manufactured, from all the materials and energy, producing emissions and waste. In step 4 the product is packaged to look appealing to the customer and it gets sent to be distributed to stores which involves a big usage of plastic and fuel. The 5th step is where the product becomes accessible for people to buy, either online or in real stores, driving to the stores or being shipped the product could also cause a big usage of fuels. The 6 step is where the product is used by the consumer and is incorrectly disposed of causing waste and harming the environment. And finally in the 7th step the product is recycled so it does not harm the environment and it can also be reused, but the recycling process might take a big amount of energy and fuel usage.
