Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)
From plants to products and back to the soil, we create value, not waste!
Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is defined as: “the compilation and evaluation of inputs (e.g. commodities, energy), outputs (e.g. emissions into the air, depletion of non-renewable resources) and potential environmental impacts of a product system throughout its life cycle”. (cf. ISO EN NF 14040).
According to this standard, the life cycle of a product consists of “consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material acquisition or generation of natural resources to final disposal.”
For FuturaMat’s compounds, the phases of the life cycle encompassed agricultural actors (cereal grower for Bioceres® or forestry for BioFibra®), plastics processing industry, recycling and composting networks. All these players were involved in data collection and provided the necessary information to model the life cycle analysis (LCA).
Results of LCA : BioCérès®
Comparative results in life cycle of 3 compounds – functionnal unit : 1 kg of compound, LANQUETIN Didier, Document, 2013, p32.
In order to assess the environmental benefits of its range of biopolymers, FuturaMat has performed a life cycle assessment (LCA). For BioCérès®, among the criteria studied, it appears that “Energy consumption”, “Emissions of greenhouse gases” and “Resource depletion” indicators are respectively lower from 30 to 65% compared to polypropylene compounds.
A comparison of the main polymers used in plastics processing industry highlights the performance of BioCérès® for the indicators “Energy consumption” and “Emissions of greenhouse gases”. It is important to note that these results take into account the end of life of the compounds, namely: 50% in Household waste and 50% in composting for BioCérès® and PLA, 100% in Household waste for Polypropylene.
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