The Importance of Life Cycle Assessment for Environmental Sustainability: An Empirical Study of a Pharmaceutical Product

The European Initiatives of environmental policy is moving increasingly to the continuous improvement of performance in a sustainable model, leading to stipulate that one of the components that quantify the quality of the product about key variables of sustainability influences. In this context, the methodology of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an innovative tool that allows you to evaluate the environmental burdens associated with a product, process or activity by identifying and quantifying material and energy consumption and environmental emissions. Through a LCA is therefore possible to identify the stages where some of the most critical environmental issues and information needed to implement the improvements. Aim of this work is to highlight the critical input-output flows of the production and marketing of a drug known to be "self-medication", paying particular attention to the management of hazardous waste