Eco-Design in the Field of Spreading Technologies

Agricultural technologies have a huge potential for being classified in "environmental technologies" because agricultural activity allows us to reduce the environmental burden of human activities by using organic waste and sludge in biomass production. Furthermore, the recycling of this organic waste, which must continue to appear positively in the environmental assessment of the industry thanks to agricultural reuse, is subjected to environmental regulation more and more restricting. The ECODEFI project (ECOconception et DEveloppement de methodologies de Fabrication Innovante de machines d'epandage - Ecodesign and development of innovative production methods of spreading machines) is intended as a resolutely innovative research project in the area of organic waste spreading. In this paper, we present a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for the purpose of analysing the environmental impacts of a centrifugal spreader using organic compost composed by plant waste and sewage sludge. We also propose a TRIZ -based eco-innovative design approach which allows designers to identify and solve problems related to environment.