Social Life Cycle Assessment of milk production: a comparative analysis between China and Italy

Socio-economic impacts of a product life cycle are strongly dependent by the cultural and institutional characteristics of the place the production is settled. The complexity of the analysis and the lack of data have greatly... [ view full abstract ]

Socio-economic impacts of a product life cycle are strongly dependent by the cultural and institutional characteristics of the place the production is settled. The complexity of the analysis and the lack of data have greatly hindered the production of SLCA comparative analysis. Applying the methodological path provided by the UNEP/ SETAC reference documents, we analysed the social impacts associated with of milk production in China and in Italy in order to highlight the differences in outcome of the two analysed Country Systems.
This article aims to identify the major social hotspots in the supply chain of milk production, and then assess the risk levels of social impacts on the basis of the characteristics of the analysed national environment. We considered the life cycle as composed by four steps: milk production, milk processing, access to market, usage. For each life cycle step we implemented a twofold literature review analysis in order to highlight the main social hot spots. First, we collected relevant literature on electronic library through the use of keywords and we conducted a content analysis in order to identify the general social hot spots. Then, we integrate the general results with site specific information provided by national/ regional grey literature and with the social risks identified by using the Social Hots Spot Database.
Preliminary results of the social risks for workers employed in the milk production step are presented, highlighting the differences between the two countries. Finally it is provided a detailed list of indicators suitable to assess the selected impact categories.