Table 3.

Life-cycle assessment (LCA) of dialysers to evaluate the potential environmental impact during their life cycle. Beginning with acquisition of resources, transport of raw materials, manufacturing, distribution, usage and end-of-life management (safe waste disposal), all stages are considered (EN ISO 14040/44: 2006). The 15 environmental impact categories are grouped into five areas. The LCA of FX class dialysers (environment awareness manufacturing) is shown in relation to its predecessor model (housing made from polycarbonate). On average, the FX class dialysers showed a 42% improvement in terms of reduced impact on the environment

		Performance improvement versus reference for individual categories (%)	Overall performance improvement
Human health preservation	Human toxicity, non-cancerous effects	50	42%
	Human toxicity, cancerous effects	44
	Ionising radiation	–39
Terrestrial conservation	Acidification	54
	Terrestrial eutrophication	54
Water protection	Freshwater eutrophication	51
	Marine eutrophication	52
	Freshwater ecotoxicity	44
Atmosphere protection	Photochemical ozone formation	53
	Particulate matter	66
	Ozone depletion	21
	Climate change	52
Resource conservation	Land use	35
	Mineral, fossil and renewable resource depletion	34
	Water resource depletion	51