Towards a circular economy: lifecycle analysis of banana waste valorisation in thermal insulation, bioethanol production, and packaging material applications

In three different applications – packaging, insulation, and bioethanol production – banana waste usage is thoroughly compared in this article. Banana leaves, rachis, and pseudo-stem wastes were used as raw materials for thermal insulation, bioethanol, and packaging material production. The goal of the study is to determine the environmental impact of using banana waste through conducting a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) for three fruitful applications. A cradle-to-gate LCA using openLCA software, the ecoinvent database was used as a reference database. The findings show that the manufacturing of thermal insulation materials has far less influence on climate change (0.00057 points) than the manufacture of packaging materials (0.18467 points) and ethanol from banana rachis waste (1.84282 points). When compared with other materials, the thermal insulating board made from agricultural waste residue performs better environmentally. The research shows how much polystyrene was used in the thermal insulating board and how much of a contribution it made. The study also examines the amount of electricity used and the possibility of climate change in the manufacture of bioethanol, focusing on emissions from degradation and fossil fuel sources. The impact of banana waste on climate change is largely determined by the amount of trash used in the processes; higher emissions are noted when more waste is used.