Environmental sustainability assessment of biodegradable bio-based poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) from agro-residues: Production and end-of-life scenarios.

In the context of a circular bio-based economy, more public attention has been paid to the environmental sustainability of biodegradable bio-based plastics, particularly plastics produced using emerging biotechnologies, e.g. poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) or PHBV. However, this has not been thoroughly investigated in the literature. Therefore, this study aimed to address three aspects regarding the environmental impact of PHBV-based plastic: (i) the potential environmental benefits of scaling up pellet production from pilot to industrial scale and the environmental hotspots at each scale, (ii) the most favourable end-of-life (EOL) scenario for PHBV, and (iii) the environmental performance of PHBV compared to benchmark materials considering both the pellet production and EOL stages. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was implemented using Cumulative Exergy Extraction from the Natural Environment (CEENE) and Environmental Footprint (EF) methods. The results show that, firstly, when upscaling the PHBV pellet production from pilot to industrial scale, a significant environmental benefit can be achieved by reducing electricity and nutrient usage, together with the implementation of better practices such as recycling effluent for diluting feedstock. Moreover, from the circularity perspective, mechanical recycling might be the most favourable EOL scenario for short-life PHBV-based products, using the carbon neutrality approach, as the material remains recycled and hence environmental credits are achieved by substituting recyclates for virgin raw materials. Lastly, PHBV can be environmentally beneficial equal to or even to some extent greater than common bio- and fossil-based plastics produced with well-established technologies. Besides methodological choices, feedstock source and technology specifications (e.g. pure or mixed microbial cultures) were also identified as significant factors contributing to the variations in LCA of (bio)plastics; therefore, transparency in reporting these factors, along with consistency in implementing the methodologies, is crucial for conducting a meaningful comparative LCA.

Analysis of long-term statistical data of cobalt flows in the EU.

Long-term statistical data was explored, acquired, processed, and analysed in order to assess the historical domestic production and international trade of a number of cobalt-containing commodities in the EU. Different data sources were examined for data, such as the British Geological Survey (BGS), the US Geological Survey (USGS), and the Eurostat and UN Comtrade (UNC) databases, considering all EU-member states before and after they joined the EU. For the international trade, hidden flows related to data gaps such as data reported in monetary value or recorded as "special category" were identified and included in the analysis. In addition, data from the Finnish customs database (ULJAS) was used to complement flows reported by Eurostat and UNC. From UNC, data was obtained considering the member states as reporters or as partners of the trade, due to internal differences of the database. Based on the acquired data the domestic production and international trade of the commodities were reconstructed for the timeframes 1938-2018 and 1988-2018, respectively. Next to the analysis of the trend of the production and trade of the different commodities, the importance of including hidden flows was revealed, where hidden flows represented more than 50% of the flow of a year in some cases. In addition, it was identified that even from reliable data sources, strong differences (more than 100% in some cases) can be found in the reported data, which is crucial to consider when utilizing the data in research.

Detailed Analysis of the Composition of Selected Plastic Packaging Waste Products and Its Implications for Mechanical and Thermochemical Recycling.

Plastic packaging typically consists of a mixture of polymers and contains a whole range of components, such as paper, organic residue, halogens, and metals, which pose problems during recycling. Nevertheless, until today, limited detailed data are available on the full polymer composition of plastic packaging waste taking into account the separable packaging parts present in a certain waste stream, nor on their quantitative levels of (elemental) impurities. This paper therefore presents an unprecedented in-depth analysis of the polymer and elemental composition, including C, H, N, S, O, metals, and halogens, of commonly generated plastic packaging waste streams in European sorting facilities. Various analytical techniques are applied, including Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarized optical microscopy, ion chromatography, and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), on more than 100 different plastic packaging products, which are all separated into their different packaging subcomponents (e.g., a bottle into the bottle itself, the cap, and the label). Our results show that certain waste streams consist of mixtures of up to nine different polymers and contain various elements of the periodic table, in particular metals such as Ca, Al, Na, Zn, and Fe and halogens like Cl and F, occurring in concentrations between 1 and 3000 ppm. As discussed in the paper, both polymer and elemental impurities impede in many cases closed-loop recycling and require advanced pretreatment steps, increasing the overall recycling cost.

Data quality assessment framework for critical raw materials. The case of cobalt.

Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) require a deep understanding of their societal metabolism, for which robust data and information are needed. However, despite the efforts to build reliable data, some CRMs such as cobalt, are still characterised by lack of data harmonization, lack of connection between datasets, and significant data unavailability. Together with data gaps filling, data quality is a crucial aspect to improve Material Flow Analysis (MFA) and Criticality Assessment (CA). Nevertheless, most of the methodologies for Data Quality Assessment (DQA) are not designed for these tools, but for others, e.g. life cycle assessment. The current research addresses the following challenges; a better understanding of the societal metabolism of CRMs; the development and implementation of DQA in MFA and CA; and a better understanding of the available data related to current cobalt flows in the EU technosphere. The underlying life cycle phases of CRMs within the technosphere were identified, together with 15 key parameters. A new DQA matrix was developed, which was subsequently applied to the full dataset collected for cobalt. The dataset was built considering seven high-end applications of cobalt. More than 300 values were gathered, which were analysed in function of different aspects, such as the country/region, and year. Through the data analysis and the application of the DQA framework, data gaps were identified due to low availability and/or low quality. It was concluded that the main deficiency of cobalt data is its reliability, due to lack of information regarding its generation method, and the incomplete stakeholder coverage.

Cobalt in end-of-life products in the EU, where does it end up? - The MaTrace approach.

The use of cobalt has experienced a strong growth in the last decades. Due to its high economic importance and high supply risk, it has been classified as a critical raw material for the EU and other economies. Part of the EU's strategy is intended to secure its availability, through fostering its efficient use and recycling. The latter is affected by factors such as the amount of available end-of-life products, and their collection-to-recycling rate. A novel methodology to analyze the impact of these factors on the cobalt flows in society is the model MaTrace, which can track the fate of materials over time and across products. The MaTrace model was expanded, adapted, and applied to predict the fate of cobalt embedded in finished products in use in the EU, considering the underlying life cycle phases within the technosphere. Eleven scenarios were built, assessing different options in the implementation of relevant EU's policies. The flows were projected for a period of 25 years, starting in 2015. The results of the baseline scenario show that after 25 years, around 8% of the initial stock of cobalt stays in use, 3% is being hoarded by users, 28% has been exported, and 61% has been lost. The main contributors to the losses of the system are the non-selective collection of end-of-life products, and the export of end-of-life products, recycled cobalt and final products. The results of the scenarios show that higher collection-to-recycling rates and lower export could increase up to 50% the cobalt that stays in use.

Quantitative sustainability assessment of household food waste management in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area.

Food waste represents the largest fraction of the municipal solid waste generated in Europe and its management is associated to suboptimal performance in environmental, health, and social dimensions. By processing detailed multi-fold local data as part of a comprehensive and broadly understandable sustainability framework, this study quantifies the environmental and socio-economic impacts of household food waste management in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area based on priorities set by local stakeholders. Five alternative short-term management options have been assessed against the current system, relying on poor separate collection and incineration. Four options involve separate collection of food waste followed by biological treatments (home/centralised composting and anaerobic digestion) while one involves a mix of separate collection and centralised mechanical-biological treatment followed by anaerobic digestion. Among these, separate collection followed by anaerobic digestion coupled with effective nutrient and energy recovery is, according to our findings, the preferred option to improve the sustainability of the current system in all dimensions considered, except for the economic pillar due to the collection costs. Home and centralised composting as well as mechanical-biological treatment are associated to more adverse impacts based on our findings. The study informs local stakeholders and authorities on the potential consequences of their options, thereby allowing them to make sound choices for a future waste and circular economy strategy.

Human health benefit and burden of the schizophrenia health care pathway in Belgium: paliperidone palmitate long-acting injections.

BACKGROUND: Environmental impact assessments of pharmaceuticals typically consider only a part of the pharmaceutical supply chain, e.g. tablet formulation. While the environmental impact can be expressed in environmental Human Health burden due to resource use and emissions, the Human Health benefit of the pharmaceutical treatment of patients is currently not simultaneously taken into account. The study aims include a cradle-to-grave assessment of all Human Health impacts of the production, administration and disposal of two antipsychotics for the treatment of schizophrenia. This is complemented with the environmental impact of health care providers such as hospitals. The aim is to holistically quantify to what extent the environmental Human Health burden compares to the Human Health benefit associated with the treatment. METHODS: We applied an overall framework which included Life Cycle Assessment to model the environmental Human Health impacts of the pharmaceutical supply chain, administration and disposal of the drug and health care providers. To model the patient benefit, this was complemented with a Markov model with a 1-year time horizon. Three patient groups were modeled: medicine coverage of paliperidone palmitate for either one month (PP1M) or three months (PP3M) at a time, and compared to Treatment Interruption (TI) as a control group. Outcomes were quantified using Years of Life Lost (YLL), Years Lived with Disability (YLD) and Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY). RESULTS: The main environmental impacts were visits to the psychiatrist and psychiatric hospitals. The pharmaceutical supply chain had a limited impact. For 1000 patients for 1 year, PP1M and PP3M respectively avoided 0.38 and 0.49 environmental DALYs compared to TI. PP1M and PP3M further avoided 45.60 and 57.87 YLL and 23.31 and 29.91 YLD compared to TI. The main outcome was the sum of environmental DALYs, YLL and YLD, in which PP1M and PP3M respectively avoided 69.29 and 88.26 DALYs. Alternative analysis of Quality-Adjusted Life Years confirmed the results. CONCLUSIONS: The overall environmental burden was lower for PP1M and PP3M treatment than Treatment Interruption because patients are kept more stable, which reduces the environmental burden due to hospitals. Moreover, the Human Health burden was outweighed by the Human Health benefit.

Circular economy indicators: What do they measure?

Circular Economy (CE) is a growing topic, especially in the European Union, that promotes the responsible and cyclical use of resources possibly contributing to sustainable development. CE is an umbrella concept incorporating different meanings. Despite the unclear concept, CE is turned into defined action plans supported by specific indicators. To understand what indicators used in CE measure specifically, we propose a classification framework to categorise indicators according to reasoning on what (CE strategies) and how (measurement scope). Despite different types, CE strategies can be grouped according to their attempt to preserve functions, products, components, materials, or embodied energy; additionally, indicators can measure the linear economy as a reference scenario. The measurement scope shows how indicators account for technological cycles with or without a Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) approach; or their effects on environmental, social, or economic dimensions. To illustrate the classification framework, we selected quantitative micro scale indicators from literature and macro scale indicators from the European Union 'CE monitoring framework'. The framework illustration shows that most of the indicators focus on the preservation of materials, with strategies such as recycling. However, micro scale indicators can also focus on other CE strategies considering LCT approach, while the European indicators mostly account for materials often without taking LCT into account. Furthermore, none of the available indicators can assess the preservation of functions instead of products, with strategies such as sharing platforms, schemes for product redundancy, or multifunctionality. Finally, the framework illustration suggests that a set of indicators should be used to assess CE instead of a single indicator.

Introduction of a natural resource balance indicator to assess soil organic carbon management: Agricultural Biomass Productivity Benefit.

The rising demand for feed and food has put an increasing pressure on agriculture, with agricultural intensification as a direct response. Notwithstanding the higher crop productivity, intensive agriculture management entails many adverse environmental impacts. Worldwide, soil organic carbon (SOC) decline is hereby considered as a main danger which affects soil fertility and productivity. The life cycle perspective helps to get a holistic overview when evaluating the environmental sustainability of agricultural systems, though the impact of farm management on soil quality aspects is often not integrated. In this paper, we introduce an indicator called Agricultural Biomass Productivity Benefit of SOC management (ABB_SOC), which, relying on natural resource consumption, enables to estimate the net effect of the efforts made to attain a better soil quality. Hereby the focus is put on SOC. First, we introduce a framework to describe the SOC trend due to farm management decisions. The extent to which remediation measures are required are used as a measure for the induced SOC losses. Next, ABB_SOC values are calculated as the balance between the natural resource consumption of the inputs (including remediation efforts) and the desired output of arable crop production systems. The models RothC and EU-Rotate_N are used to simulate the SOC evolution due to farm management and the response of the biomass productivity, respectively. The developed indicator is applied on several rotation systems in Flanders, comparing different remediation strategies. The indicator could be used as a base for a method to account for soil quality in life cycle analysis.

Estimation of the Unregistered Inflow of Electrical and Electronic Equipment to a Domestic Market: A Case Study on Televisions in Vietnam.

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) constitutes one of the most problematic waste streams worldwide, and accurately estimating the scale of WEEE can assist in tackling its associated issues. However, obtaining an accurate estimation of WEEE remains a challenge because a share of the waste is difficult to calculate. This share stems from the administratively unregistered (so-called "invisible") inflow of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) into the domestic market. As a first attempt to qualitatively and quantitatively investigate this invisible inflow, this study discusses the nature of this flow in detail and proposes a calculation pathway for quantifying its magnitude. The size of the invisible inflow to a domestic market (assumed equal to invisible sales) is calculated by subtracting the registered, also called "visible", sales from the total sales. The total sales are modeled, whereas the visible sales are derived from statistical data. The method is illustrated by a case study on televisions (TVs) in Vietnam. The results show that from 2002 to 2013, the invisible TV inflow contributed, on average, 15% to the total TV sales (coefficient of variation: 0.21). This average share would increase by approximately 1.0% when the maximum number of TVs used per household increased by 1.0%. However, it would decrease by 1.7% when the visible sales increased by 1.0%. Additionally, the average share of the invisible TV inflow would change from 15% to 27% when an unadjusted constant instead of an adjusted time-varying lifespan is employed. This first estimation of the invisible EEE inflow to the domestic market can be improved with additional knowledge and data in the future.

Human health benefits and burdens of a pharmaceutical treatment: Discussion of a conceptual integrated approach.

The effects of a pharmaceutical treatment have until now been evaluated by the field of Health Economics on the patient health benefits, expressed in Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) versus the monetary costs. However, there is also a Human Health burden associated with this process, resulting from emissions that originate from the pharmaceutical production processes, Use Phase and End of Life (EoL) disposal of the medicine. This Human Health burden is evaluated by the research field of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and expressed in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), a metric similar to the QALY. The need for a new framework presents itself in which both the positive and negative health effects of a pharmaceutical treatment are integrated into a net Human Health effect. To do so, this article reviews the methodologies of both Health Economics and the area of protection Human Health of the LCA methodology and proposes a conceptual framework on which to base an integration of both health effects. Methodological issues such as the inclusion of future costs and benefits, discounting and age weighting are discussed. It is suggested to use the structure of an LCA as a backbone to cover all methodological challenges involved in the integration. The possibility of monetizing both Human Health benefits and burdens is explored. The suggested approach covers the main methodological aspects that should be considered in an integrated assessment of the health effects of a pharmaceutical treatment.

Environmental impact assessment and monetary ecosystem service valuation of an ecosystem under different future environmental change and management scenarios; a case study of a Scots pine forest.

For a sustainable future, we must sustainably manage not only the human/industrial system but also ecosystems. To achieve the latter goal, we need to predict the responses of ecosystems and their provided services to management practices under changing environmental conditions via ecosystem models and use tools to compare the estimated provided services between the different scenarios. However, scientific articles have covered a limited amount of estimated ecosystem services and have used tools to aggregate services that contain a significant amount of subjective aspects and that represent the final result in a non-tangible unit such as 'points'. To resolve these matters, this study quantifies the environmental impact (on human health, natural systems and natural resources) in physical units and uses an ecosystem service valuation based on monetary values (including ecosystem disservices with associated negative monetary values). More specifically, the paper also focuses on the assessment of ecosystem services related to pollutant removal/generation flows, accounting for the inflow of eutrophying nitrogen (N) when assessing the effect of N leached to groundwater. Regarding water use/provisioning, evapotranspiration is alternatively considered a disservice because it implies a loss of (potential) groundwater. These approaches and improvements, relevant to all ecosystems, are demonstrated using a Scots pine stand from 2010 to 2089 for a combination of three environmental change and three management scenarios. The environmental change scenarios considered interannual climate variability trends and included alterations in temperature, precipitation, nitrogen deposition, wind speed, Particulate matter (PM) concentration and CO2 concentration. The addressed flows/ecosystem services, including disservices, are as follows: particulate matter removal, freshwater loss, CO2 sequestration, wood production, NOx emissions, NH3 uptake and nitrogen pollution/removal. The monetary ecosystem service valuation yields a total average estimate of 361-1242 euro ha(-1) yr(-1). PM2.5 (<2.5 µm) removal is the key service, with a projected value of 622-1172 euro ha(-1) yr(-1). Concerning environmental impact assessment, with net CO2 uptake being the most relevant contributing flow, a loss prevention of 0.014-0.029 healthy life years ha(-1) yr(-1) is calculated for the respective flows. Both assessment methods favor the use of the least intensive management scenario due to its resulting higher CO2 sequestration and PM removal, which are the most important services of the considered ones.

Comparison of Overall Resource Consumption of Biosolids Management System Processes Using Exergetic Life Cycle Assessment.

This study focused on the evaluation of biosolids management systems (BMS) from a natural resource consumption point of view. Additionally, the environmental impact of the facilities was benchmarked using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to provide a comprehensive assessment. This is the first study to apply a Cumulative Exergy Extraction from the Natural Environment (CEENE) method for an in-depth resource use assessment of BMS where two full-scale BMS and seven system variations were analyzed. CEENE allows better system evaluation and understanding of how much benefit is achievable from the products generated by BMS, which have valorization potential. LCA results showed that environmental burden is mostly from the intense electricity consumption. The CEENE analysis further revealed that the environmental burden is due to the high consumption of fossil and nuclear-based natural resources. Using Cumulative Degree of Perfection, higher resource-use efficiency, 53%, was observed in the PTA-2 where alkaline stabilization rather than anaerobic digestion is employed. However, an anaerobic digestion process is favorable over alkaline stabilization, with 35% lower overall natural resource use. The most significant reduction of the resource footprint occurred when the output biogas was valorized in a combined heat and power system.

Re-evaluating Primary Biotic Resource Use for Marine Biomass Production: A New Calculation Framework.

The environmental impacts of biomass harvesting can be quantified through the amount of net primary production required to produce one unit of harvested biomass (SPPR-specific primary production required). This paper presents a new calculation framework that explicitly takes into account full food web complexity and shows that the resulting SPPR for toothed whales in the Icelandic marine ecosystem is 2.8 times higher than the existing approach based on food web simplification. In addition, we show that our new framework can be coupled to food web modeling to examine how uncertainty on ecological data and processes can be accounted for while estimating SPPR. This approach reveals that an increase in the degree of heterotrophy by flagellates from 0% to 100% results in a two-fold increase in SPPR estimates in the Barents Sea. It also shows that the estimated SPPR is between 3.9 (herring) and 5.0 (capelin) times higher than that estimated when adopting food chain theory. SPPR resulting from our new approach is only valid for the given time period for which the food web is modeled and cannot be used to infer changes in SPPR when the food web is altered by changes in human exploitation or environmental changes.

Rethinking the area of protection "natural resources" in life cycle assessment.

Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) in classical life cycle assessment (LCA) aims at analyzing potential impacts of products and services typically on three so-called areas of protection (AoPs): Natural Environment, Human Health, and Natural Resources. This paper proposes an elaboration of the AoP Natural Resources. It starts with analyzing different perspectives on Natural Resources as they are somehow sandwiched in between the Natural Environment (their cradle) and the human-industrial environment (their application). Reflecting different viewpoints, five perspectives are developed with the suggestion to select three in function of classical LCA. They result in three safeguard subjects: the Asset of Natural Resources, their Provisioning Capacity, and their role in Global Functions. Whereas the Provisioning Capacity is fully in function of humans, the global functions go beyond provisioning as they include nonprovisioning functions for humans and regulating and maintenance services for the globe as a whole, following the ecosystem services framework. A fourth and fifth safeguard subject has been identified: recognizing the role Natural Resources for human welfare, either specifically as building block in supply chains of products and services as such, either with or without their functions beyond provisioning. But as these are far broader as they in principle should include characterization of mechanisms within the human industrial society, they are considered as subjects for an integrated sustainability assessment (LCSA: life cycle sustainability assessment), that is, incorporating social, economic and environmental issues.

Quantification of spatially differentiated resource footprints for products and services through a macro-economic and thermodynamic approach.

Although natural resources form the basis of our economy, they are not always used in a sustainable way. To achieve a more sustainable economic growth, resource consumption needs to be measured. Therefore, resource footprint frameworks (RFF) are being developed. To easily provide results, these RFF integrate inventory methodologies, at macrolevel mostly input-output (IO) models, with resource accounting methodologies, of which the Ecological Footprint is probably the best known one. The objective of this work is the development of a new RFF, in which a world IO-model (Exiobase), providing a global perspective, is integrated with the CEENE methodology (Cumulative Exergy Extraction from the Natural Environment), offering a more complete resource range: fossil fuels, metals, minerals, nuclear resources, water resources, land resources, abiotic renewable resources, and atmospheric resources. This RFF, called IO-CEENE, allows one to calculate resource footprints for products or services consumed in different countries as the exergy extracted from nature. The way the framework is constructed makes it possible to show which resources and countries contribute to the total footprint. This was illustrated by a case study, presenting the benefits of the framework's worldwide perspective. Additionally, a software file is provided to easily calculate results.

Multilayered modeling of particulate matter removal by a growing forest over time, from plant surface deposition to washoff via rainfall.

Airborne fine particulate matter (PM) is responsible for the most severe health effects induced by air pollution in Europe. Vegetation, and forests in particular, can play a role in mitigating this pollution since they have a large surface area to filter PM out of the air. Many studies have solely focused on dry deposition of PM onto the tree surface, but deposited PM can be resuspended to the air or may be washed off by precipitation dripping from the plants to the soil. It is only the latter process that represents a net-removal from the atmosphere. To quantify this removal all these processes should be accounted for, which is the case in our modeling framework. Practically, a multilayered PM removal model for forest canopies is developed. In addition, the framework has been integrated into an existing forest growth model in order to account for changes in PM removal efficiency during forest growth. A case study was performed on a Scots pine stand in Belgium (Europe), resulting for 2010 in a dry deposition of 31 kg PM2.5 (PM < 2.5 µm) ha(-1) yr(-1) from which 76% was resuspended and 24% washed off. For different future emission reduction scenarios from 2010 to 2030, with altering PM2.5 air concentration, the avoided health costs due to PM2.5 removal was estimated to range from 915 to 1075 euro ha(-1) yr(-1). The presented model could even be used to predict nutrient input via particulate matter though further research is needed to improve and better validate the model.

Environmental sustainability assessments of pharmaceuticals: an emerging need for simplification in life cycle assessments.

The pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries are eager to strive toward innovative products and technologies. This study first derives hotspots in resource consumption of 2839 Basic Operations in 40 Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient synthesis steps through Exergetic Life Cycle Assessment (ELCA). Second, since companies are increasingly obliged to quantify the environmental sustainability of their products, two alternative ways of simplifying (E)LCA are discussed. The usage of averaged product group values (R(2) = 3.40 × 10(-30)) is compared with multiple linear regression models (R(2) = 8.66 × 10(-01)) in order to estimate resource consumption of synthesis steps. An optimal set of predictor variables is postulated to balance model complexity and embedded information with usability and capability of merging models with existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) data systems. The amount of organic solvents used, molar efficiency, and duration of a synthesis step were shown to be the most significant predictor variables. Including additional predictor variables did not contribute to the predictive power and eventually weakens the model interpretation. Ideally, an organization should be able to derive its environmental impact from readily available ERP data, linking supply chains back to the cradle of resource extraction, excluding the need for an approximation with product group averages.

Modeling fossil energy demands of primary nonferrous metal production: the case of copper.

The methodologies for life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) of metal resources are rather diverse. Some LCIA methods are based on ore grade changes, but they typically do not consider the impact of changes in primary metal extraction technology. To characterize the impact of technology changes for copper, we modeled and analyzed energy demand, expressed in fossil energy equivalents (FEE) per kilogram of primary copper, taking into account the applied mining method and processing technology. The model was able to capture variations in reported energy demands of selected mining sites (FEE: 0.07 to 0.84 MJ-eq/kg ore) with deviations of 1 to 30%. Applying the model to a database containing global mine production data resulted in energy demand median values of around 50 MJ/kg Cu irrespective of the processing route, even though median values of ore demands varied between processing routes from ca. 35 (underground, conventional processing) to 200 kg ore/kg Cu (open pit, solvent-extraction, and electrowinning), as high specific ore demands are typically associated with less energy intensive extraction technologies and vice versa. Thus, only considering ore grade in LCIA methods without making any differentiation with regard to employed technology can produce misleading results.

Quantifying the environmental impact of an integrated human/industrial-natural system using life cycle assessment; a case study on a forest and wood processing chain.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool to assess the environmental sustainability of a product; it quantifies the environmental impact of a product's life cycle. In conventional LCAs, the boundaries of a product's life cycle are limited to the human/industrial system, the technosphere. Ecosystems, which provide resources to and take up emissions from the technosphere, are not included in those boundaries. However, similar to the technosphere, ecosystems also have an impact on their (surrounding) environment through their resource usage (e.g., nutrients) and emissions (e.g., CH4). We therefore propose a LCA framework to assess the impact of integrated Techno-Ecological Systems (TES), comprising relevant ecosystems and the technosphere. In our framework, ecosystems are accounted for in the same manner as technosphere compartments. Also, the remediating effect of uptake of pollutants, an ecosystem service, is considered. A case study was performed on a TES of sawn timber production encompassing wood growth in an intensively managed forest ecosystem and further industrial processing. Results show that the managed forest accounted for almost all resource usage and biodiversity loss through land occupation but also for a remediating effect on human health, mostly via capture of airborne fine particles. These findings illustrate the potential relevance of including ecosystems in the product's life cycle of a LCA, though further research is needed to better quantify the environmental impact of TES.