Life Cycle Assessment for particleboards with recycled wood in an industrial context

Abstract The issue of depletion of natural resources carries side effects on human health, the ecosystem, and the planet itself. It is necessary to develop mitigation policies to reverse the actual climate trend. Both actions on small and large scales can make a relevant contribution to that problem. This paper aims to investigate two different approaches of the Life Cycle Assessment in an industrial context, in particular “ex-post” LCA is carried out for particleboards manufactured by a company using 100% recycled wood, while “ex-ante” LCA study is referred to a hypothetical particleboard manufactured equally to the previous product, but using 100% virgin wood, instead of recycled. The outcomes of the comparison of the two LCAs highlights that there are very relevant aspects to take into consideration when the environmental performance of a product is evaluated. In fact, CO2 emissions, which are one of the most concerning environmental impacts nowadays, and which is also orienting European policies, are not the only indicator that affect the impacts related to the human health, the natural environment, and the natural resources. The LCA tool is a complete tool capable to provide all-round environmental impacts of the studied object; in this research the results from the comparison of the two products’ LCA, pointed out how the “land use” increases in the case of the product made with only virgin wood, which is more than 20 times superior compared to the “land use” in the case of particleboard containing 100% recycled wood. The application of the two LCAs is structured on “cradle to gate” system boundary to highlight the impacts of the production process. For both ex-ante and ex-post application an interpretation is conducted to evidence their benefits, but with awareness of possible limits when they are utilized.