A consequential approach to life cycle sustainability assessment with an agent‐based model to determine the potential contribution of chemical recycling to UN Sustainable Development Goals

Raoul Voss, Roh Pin Lee and Magnus Fröhling

Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2023, vol. 27, issue 3, 726-745

Abstract: Chemical recycling (CR) could support a circular approach for municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment. In promoting the recirculation of recyclable carbon‐containing waste as secondary feedstock for chemical production, it could contribute to resource conservation, emissions reduction, and supply security. To evaluate CR's contribution to the transition from a linear to a circular carbon economy—and correspondingly to the achievement of environmental, economic, and social sustainability as indicated in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN‐SDGs)—this study builds on extant literature of life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) to investigate consequential environmental, economic, and social CR impacts. Specifically, an integrated approach whereby process‐based life cycle assessment, techno‐economic analysis, and social indicators are linked in the framework of an agent‐based model is developed to investigate sustainability consequences of CR via gasification of residual MSW in Germany. Results suggest that CR contributes to reducing climate change and to addressing terrestrial acidification and fossil resource scarcity. However, its deployment will be associated with significant system costs. Hence, to promote CR implementation, measures such as obliging direct waste incineration to trade CO2 certificates—provided that certificate prices increase sharply in the future—as well as implementing a recycling rate are found to be necessary to gap economic disadvantages. This study not only contributes to extending life cycle approaches for LCSA methodologically, it furthermore provides valuable insights into temporal and spatial interactions in waste management systems to inform science, industry, and politics about the sustainability impacts of CR on the achievement of the UN‐SDGs. This article met the requirements for a gold‐gold JIE data openness badge described at http://jie.click/badges.

Date: 2023
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