A life cycle assessment of intermediate rubber products in Thailand from the product environmental footprint perspective So Pyay a, b , Wanwisa Thanungkano c , Jitti Mungkalasiri c , Charongpun Musikavong a, b, d, * a Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla, 90112, Thailand b Environmental Assessment and Technology for Hazardous Waste Management Research Center, Faculty of Environmental Management, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla, 90112, Thailand c National Metal and Materials Technology Center, National Science and Technology Development Agency, Pathumthani,12120, Thailand d Center of Excellence on Hazardous Substance Management (HSM), Bangkok, 10330, Thailand article info Article history: Received 23 May 2018 Received in revised form 21 June 2019 Accepted 12 July 2019 Available online 15 July 2019 Handling Editor: CT Lee abstract Thailand produces one-third of the world's total natural rubber and is the top supplier of natural rubber to Europe. The European Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) plays an essential role in reducing the environmental impacts of the rubber products imported into Europe. This is the first work to evaluate the PEF of fresh latex, cup lump, and hevea wood from the plantation phase (primary products) and the PEF of intermediate rubber products: ribbed smoked sheets (RSS), ribbed smoked sheet bales (RSSB), block rubber (Standard Thai Rubber, STR 20), concentrated latex, and lumber AB in Thailand. A national database and secondary data were used to compile a life cycle inventory. The PEF of fresh latex, cup lump, and heveawood were 0.194, 0.437, and 0.229, respectively. RSS and RSSB showed PEF values of 3.96 and 1.52, respectively while those of STR 20, concentrated latex, and lumber AB were 0.861,1.49, and 0.473, respectively. The most significant impacts are human toxicity (non-cancer effects) in RSS and RSSB, human toxicity (cancer effects) in STR 20, eutrophication (terrestrial) in concentrated latex, and par- ticulate matter/respiratory inorganics in lumber AB. The hot spots originated from the acquisition of fresh latex and firewood use in the RSS production. A significant influence on firewood consumption was found during the production of RSS by a sensitivity analysis. To enhance the competitiveness of Thai- land's rubber industry in the European Union market, minimization of the use of firewood and increasing energy efficiency are crucial in the manufacture of rubber products. Policymakers should emphasize increasing knowledge of sustainable practices for farmers to reduce the impacts at the plantation phase. The PEF results can be used as decision criteria for the development of rubber-product PEF labels. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The role of the rubber industry is very significant in Thailand's economy. In the year 2016, 4.16 Mt of natural rubber were produced by Thailand, which is equal to one-third of the total production worldwide (OAE, 2016). In the same year, Thailand exported 3.6 Mt of natural rubber to global markets, generating revenues of nearly USD 5 Â 10 9 for the Thai economy, and the industry creates about 600,000 jobs (MOL, 2016). The global demand for rubber products is predicted to grow over the next decade, which will lead to an increase in the production of natural rubber in Thailand (BOI, 2016). Thailand has an export-led economy and exports account for over half of the gross domestic product of the country. The major rubber products exported from Thailand are ribbed smoked sheet bales (RSSB), concentrated latex, and block rubber (Standard Thai Rubber, STR) with exports in 2015 valued at USD 1.115 Â 10 9 , USD 1.040 Â 10 9 , and USD 2.670 Â 10 9 , respectively (OAE, 2016). The European Union (EU) is the third largest export destination for rubber commodities from Thailand, and the European Commission (EC) recently promulgated a policy relating to a single market for green products (EC, 2013a). To create a common method for la- beling green products, the EC has developed a more harmonized framework, namely the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) (EC, 2013b). The PEF is a multicriteria measure and considers 15 predefined * Corresponding author. Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla, 90112, Thailand. E-mail addresses: mcharongpun@eng.psu.ac.th, charongpun@gmail.com (C. Musikavong). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Cleaner Production journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.117632 0959-6526/© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Journal of Cleaner Production 237 (2019) 117632