How to create product system including EoL treatment and in that case which one will be the reference process?

Question

Please see the Section 4. LCA case study of the OpenLCA manual. In that Oat milk example, what is the reference process of the product system (that took into account all the previous processes). Is this the model graph for the incineration process? In the manual, it is also mentioned that the (interconnected) last process should be considered as the reference process. But if incineration is considered, then the analysis is not correct.
 it only shows the LCIA of the incineration process. Please clarify. 

Don't we need to create a lifecycle process (as a quantitative reference), connecting the upstream processes (production through to use phase as input) and waste treatment as output in the lifecycle process. Example given in the ERG tutorial.   

Answer 1

Hi,

the oat milk, consumed is the reference flow of the whole product system. Hence all impacts are referenced to this. Nevertheless, the reference process has a different background color compared to the other processes in the model graph. However, I will make a small note in the manual to clarify this.

Best