Application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Method in Assessing the Environmental Impact of New Materials Derived from Waste Polymers in Terms of Sustainability

Sustainable socioeconomic development should provide humans with a suitable environment for safe living. It can be debated whether the term “environment” should be used due to the significant anthropogenic transformation of the environment. Therefore, an essential part of solving environmental problems is innovation. Climate, resource conservation, and environmental protection are recognized worldwide as common challenges. Thus, it is necessary to implement solutions that simultaneously protect the environment and the climate with sustainable and rational use of resources. Related to this issue is the principle of a loop/closed-loop economy. Among other things, it refers to using waste to prepare materials that can be used for other purposes. The use of tools such as LCA (life cycle analysis) contributes to supporting environmental protection. With the LCA method, it is possible to analyze environmental risks and compare new technological alternatives. LCA is a methodology that has been used around the world with great success, especially for studying individual stages of the entire product life cycle. The results of studies that have been conducted in various research centers confirm the possibility of also using the LCA technique for the environmental assessment of new technologies or existing modernized technological processes. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of using the LCA method to determine the environmental impact that the potential production and use of new materials will have.