Influence of end-of-life allocation, credits and other methodological issues in LCA of compounds: An in-company circular economy case study on packaging

The aim of this article is to present a circular economy case study and investigate and discuss effects of end-of-life (EoL) allocation and crediting strategies on the results of this case study. In the case study, replacement of eucalyptus wood sheets, which are used to separate loaded pallets to p...

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Autores: Civancik-Uslu, Didem, Puig, Rita, Ferrer, Laura, Fullana i Palmer, Pere
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2019
País:España
Institución:Universitat de Lleida (UdL)
Repositorio:Repositori Obert UdL
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.udl.cat:10459.1/66403
Acceso en línea:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.12.076
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/66403
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Sustainability
Environmental impacts
Life Cycle Assessment(LCA)
Composite
Mineral fiber
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spelling Influence of end-of-life allocation, credits and other methodological issues in LCA of compounds: An in-company circular economy case study on packagingCivancik-Uslu, DidemPuig, RitaFerrer, LauraFullana i Palmer, PereSustainabilityEnvironmental impactsLife Cycle Assessment(LCA)CompositeMineral fiberThe aim of this article is to present a circular economy case study and investigate and discuss effects of end-of-life (EoL) allocation and crediting strategies on the results of this case study. In the case study, replacement of eucalyptus wood sheets, which are used to separate loaded pallets to prevent damaging each other during top storage in the company, by plastic compound alternatives composed of virgin PP, recycled PP and mineral fillers, is studied. When their life time is over, plastic compound sheets are sent to be recycled in the recycling facilities of the company. While performing this comparative LCA, a methodological discussion on how to credit the system in open-loop (OL) and close-loop (CL) recycling is performed. The use of Q factors (quality factors), instead of 1:1 substitution of virgin materials by recycled ones, is recommended and how to define these Q factors is discussed. The use of Q factors based on the mechanical properties of virgin and recycled materials, which is flexural modulus in this case, is recommended. Finally, a formula for the calculation of the Q factor of the compound material leaving the CL recycling after several recycling cycles, is proposed. Results show that, for this case study, plastic compound sheets are environmentally better alternative than eucalyptus wood sheets for most of the environmental impact categories evaluated due to the following reasons: higher number of uses, lower weight, use of recycled PP and mineral fillers, and longer lifetime. However, in two impact categories (resource depletion water and resource depletion mineral, fossils and renewables) eucalyptus wood sheets are found to have slightly better results. For the rest of the impact categories, the difference in the results are so high that different crediting methods do not affect the results in this case; however, they may in others. Among the scenarios evaluated OL recycling with market mix substitution is found to provide the highest impacts.This study is part of the PhD thesis of one of the authors (Civancik) and she wishes to thank the plastic granulates company GCR Group and its subdivision Granic for their financial support and providing data. The authors are responsible for the choice and presentation of the information contained in this paper as well as for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit this Organization.Elsevier2019info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersionapplication/pdfhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.12.076http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/66403reponame:Repositori Obert UdL instname:Universitat de Lleida (UdL)InglésVersió postprint del document publicat a https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.12.076Journal Of Cleaner Production, 2019, vol. 212, p. 925-940cc-by-nc-nd, (c) Elsevier, 2019info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/esoai:repositori.udl.cat:10459.1/664032026-06-24T12:42:17Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Influence of end-of-life allocation, credits and other methodological issues in LCA of compounds: An in-company circular economy case study on packaging
title Influence of end-of-life allocation, credits and other methodological issues in LCA of compounds: An in-company circular economy case study on packaging
spellingShingle Influence of end-of-life allocation, credits and other methodological issues in LCA of compounds: An in-company circular economy case study on packaging
Civancik-Uslu, Didem
Sustainability
Environmental impacts
Life Cycle Assessment(LCA)
Composite
Mineral fiber
title_short Influence of end-of-life allocation, credits and other methodological issues in LCA of compounds: An in-company circular economy case study on packaging
title_full Influence of end-of-life allocation, credits and other methodological issues in LCA of compounds: An in-company circular economy case study on packaging
title_fullStr Influence of end-of-life allocation, credits and other methodological issues in LCA of compounds: An in-company circular economy case study on packaging
title_full_unstemmed Influence of end-of-life allocation, credits and other methodological issues in LCA of compounds: An in-company circular economy case study on packaging
title_sort Influence of end-of-life allocation, credits and other methodological issues in LCA of compounds: An in-company circular economy case study on packaging
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Civancik-Uslu, Didem
Puig, Rita
Ferrer, Laura
Fullana i Palmer, Pere
author Civancik-Uslu, Didem
author_facet Civancik-Uslu, Didem
Puig, Rita
Ferrer, Laura
Fullana i Palmer, Pere
author_role author
author2 Puig, Rita
Ferrer, Laura
Fullana i Palmer, Pere
author2_role author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Sustainability
Environmental impacts
Life Cycle Assessment(LCA)
Composite
Mineral fiber
topic Sustainability
Environmental impacts
Life Cycle Assessment(LCA)
Composite
Mineral fiber
description The aim of this article is to present a circular economy case study and investigate and discuss effects of end-of-life (EoL) allocation and crediting strategies on the results of this case study. In the case study, replacement of eucalyptus wood sheets, which are used to separate loaded pallets to prevent damaging each other during top storage in the company, by plastic compound alternatives composed of virgin PP, recycled PP and mineral fillers, is studied. When their life time is over, plastic compound sheets are sent to be recycled in the recycling facilities of the company. While performing this comparative LCA, a methodological discussion on how to credit the system in open-loop (OL) and close-loop (CL) recycling is performed. The use of Q factors (quality factors), instead of 1:1 substitution of virgin materials by recycled ones, is recommended and how to define these Q factors is discussed. The use of Q factors based on the mechanical properties of virgin and recycled materials, which is flexural modulus in this case, is recommended. Finally, a formula for the calculation of the Q factor of the compound material leaving the CL recycling after several recycling cycles, is proposed. Results show that, for this case study, plastic compound sheets are environmentally better alternative than eucalyptus wood sheets for most of the environmental impact categories evaluated due to the following reasons: higher number of uses, lower weight, use of recycled PP and mineral fillers, and longer lifetime. However, in two impact categories (resource depletion water and resource depletion mineral, fossils and renewables) eucalyptus wood sheets are found to have slightly better results. For the rest of the impact categories, the difference in the results are so high that different crediting methods do not affect the results in this case; however, they may in others. Among the scenarios evaluated OL recycling with market mix substitution is found to provide the highest impacts.
publishDate 2019
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2019
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
format article
status_str acceptedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.12.076
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/66403
url https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.12.076
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/66403
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Versió postprint del document publicat a https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.12.076
Journal Of Cleaner Production, 2019, vol. 212, p. 925-940
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv cc-by-nc-nd, (c) Elsevier, 2019
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es
rights_invalid_str_mv cc-by-nc-nd, (c) Elsevier, 2019
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Repositori Obert UdL
instname:Universitat de Lleida (UdL)
instname_str Universitat de Lleida (UdL)
reponame_str Repositori Obert UdL
collection Repositori Obert UdL
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,81155

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