Amir Hamzah Sharaai

Social implications of palm oil production through social life cycle perspectives in Johor, Malaysia

PurposePalm oil is considered as the primary source of income for many farmers in Southeast Asia and become a very important agricultural commodity for the Malaysian economy in recent years. Besides its main usage as cooking oil, it is also exported to be used in many commercial foods and personal care products, as well as biofuels productions (Wong et al. Pertanika Journal of Scholarly Research Reviews 1:33–39, 2015). Over the years, the agricultural sector, especially the livestock and dairy sectors in particular, has been increasingly criticized for their environmental as well as social impacts (Revéret et al. 2015). However, while the products of the agricultural sector contributed significantly to the economic mainstay, the social aspects of it especially those associated with the workers, communities, and environment are equally important and often neglected. The purpose of this research is to identify potential social impacts (implications on workers and local community) throughout the whole life cycle of palm oil production using the Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) methodology.MethodsThe methodology of this study consisted of several steps in the framework of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study. The steps involved were goal and scope definition, Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) analysis, Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA), and interpretation. Descriptive analyses that involved the social impact associated with the operation of palm oil mill, local community, and workers were used. In order to acquire information from these stakeholders, two sets of questionnaires were constructed based on the subcategories proposed by UNEP (2009).Results and discussionThe results on social aspects showed that the workers exhibited high value of satisfaction regarding social benefits conferred upon them such as annual leave, panel clinic, Employees Provident Fund (EPF), Social Security Organization (SOCSO) scheme, and public holidays. Meanwhile, the satisfaction level of the local community is different according to specific categories. For instance, a small percentage of satisfaction exists among the local community regarding the palm oil industry especially in heritage and cultural conservation.ConclusionsFindings from the S-LCA analysis are positive as palm oil production still met the required criteria in terms of social significance to those who are in direct contact with this operation especially the workers and local community.

Towards a Green Quail Meat Production through Life Cycle Perspective

Commercial conventional of poultry production at largest scale in this country show escalation year by year, together with high demand of poultry product in Malaysia market. The aim of this research was to identify environmental impact hotspots in the whole supply chain of quail meat production in Jasin, Melaka. At present, assessment of environmental impact of poultry production in Malaysia is lacking.Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the energy use and environmental impacts of quail meat production in Jasin,Melaka through life cycle assessment.A cradle-to-gate assessment including distribution stage was conducted based on the ISO 14040/14044 guidelines.Life cycle inventory data was collected from farmers and available literature. Life cycle impact assessment was conducted toidentify environmental impacts using the available method in theopenLCA software.Life cycle processes related to feed production, electricity and water were identified as the major hotspots for energy and they also showed the most significant contribution in GWP and acidication potential among the environmental impacts categories. Improving efficiency of energy and water consumption will reduce the environmental burden associated with quail meat production.Thus, at the end of this research, it will able to make industry player to understand and take into consideration the solutions in order to promote a green quail meat production.

To Develop a Greener Recycled Paper Production by Determining Potential Environmental Impacts through Life Cycle Perspective

A huge number of available Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies have shown that data availability for paper products is enormous regionally. In Malaysia, LCA practices are considered uncommon attributed to the lack of data availability and LCA practitioner itself. Therefore, a cradle to cradle study has been carried out to determine the potential impacts arise from the recycled paper production in Malaysia. LCA methodology used in this study including goal and scope definition, inventory analysis (LCI), impact assessment (LCIA) and interpretation is based on ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 framework. A series of input-output data collection has been carried out and the collected data was calculated by using Simapro software followed by data evaluation using Eco-indicator 99 method. The results showed that the most significant impacts generated throughout the system were fossil fuel and resources at the midpoint and endpoint level respectively. This can be attributed to a high consumption of chemicals and energy in the pulp and paper manufacturing process. As a consequence, a comprehensive practice in mill specifically on chemicals and resources include water and energy consumption, as well as the waste management and recycling system needs to be addressed explicitly to mitigate the relevant impacts.

Life Cycle Assessment at a Sawmill Manufacturing Company in Terengganu, Malaysia

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is known as a tool to evaluate and assessing the impacts of products towards the environment. It will include all the process or activities used and waste released into the environment. In detail, LCA involved the collection and evaluation of quantitative data on the inputs and outputs of material, energy and waste flows associated with a product over its entire life cycle. The objective of this study is to identify potential impact of sawmill manufacturing process. This study followed the four phases as stipulated in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 14040 series of standard) for conducting LCA studies such as goal and scope definition, Life Cycle Inventory analysis (LCI), Life Cycle Impacts Assessment (LCIA), and Interpretation.

Uncovering the Relation Between Environmental Damage and the Rate of Rainfall Received Through a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Study on Potable Water Production in Malaysia

The world climate change is a phenomenon that is widely discussed in recent times. It causes a huge impact to the population of the world. Global warming causes the worlds rainfall pattern to change including Malaysia. Today wet and dry season is very hard to be accurately predicted. Rainy season is getting more frequent and causing destruction to properties and halting economic growth of a nation. Evidence shows that climate change and global warming is caused by humans own lifestyle and activities. Mans savage way is the main caused for global climate change. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool that could be used to assess a product or service from cradle-to-grave. This tool is capable of proving that every human invention has weaknesses and is threatening human life. In water treatment process, chemicals and electricity is needed. A sudden increase in water level in river caused by heavy rain resulted in higher usage of chemicals to treat water. Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) which uses ecoindicator 99 evaluation method to assess the chemicals and electricity, shows that the production of Polyaluminium chloride (PAC) causes damage to human health (respiratory inorganic) while electricity generation is fast depleting the natural resource of fossil fuel such as natural gas. These situation show that the irregular rate of rainfall resulted from the worlds climate change not only affect human (eg. Inorganic respitory) but also indirectly causing destruction to the environment (depletion of natural gas) during the treatment of water. To overcome this problem the use of PAC as coagulant can be substituted with Alum. From the impact analysis, it is found that by replacing PAC with Alum, damage is reduced to more than 90 in damage to human health and ecosystem quality. This the same if electricity generation using natural gas is replaced with the combination of natural gas and renewable energy technologies such as solar panels and hydroelectric. Impact analysis also shows that there is 50 reduction in damage to resources when 50 natural gas and 50 renewable energy (solar panel and hydroelectric) without affecting human health and the environment. © 2009, INSInet Publication.