To assess the environmental sustainability aspects of the IRIS technologies, ex-ante LCAs were carried out, considering a broad range of environmental impact categories like climate, resource efficiency and pollution (emissions to air, soil and water). The overall goal was to quantify the potential environmental effects from upscaling the technologies, in reference to a conventional benchmark considering the potential benefit of the IRIS innovations. A second goal was to identify critical issues of each technology early on, so that risks could be identified and IRIS could steer the development in the right direction. The data availability for the ex-ante LCAs varied greatly for different reasons, so each assessment should be discussed and interpreted separately. Biobased indigo: This ex-ante LCA is based on a recent internal study (2024). The alternative with the highest climate mitigation potential was the 2023 process (50%), followed by the fermentation process (46%) and finally the 2020 process (15%). The overall results from the study indicate that the proposed indigo solution has significant potential for environmental impact mitigation. Microbial dyes derived from atmospheric CO2 :This ex-ante LCA was modelled using specific process data obtained from partner’s pilot production. The results show that the climate impact of the biobased dye (2.5 kg CO2-eq/kg of dye) is 13% lower than the benchmark (2.9 kg CO2-eq/kg of dye). In general, the results indicate that microbial dye can reduce the environmental impact from the dyeing process, and the magnitude of this reduction depends on the synthetic dye chosen as benchmark. Moreover, further reductions could be achieved with further development and upscaling during the project.Upscaling encapsulated heat and light-sensitive biobased colorants: This ex-ante LCA of the encapsulated pigments corresponds to the results from an LCA carried out under the European project BARBARA. The results suggest that the encapsulated pigments could offer a reduction in environmental impact from synthetic dyes in 13 out of the 16 impact categories studied. The modifications to the process to be tested in IRIS are expected to reduce energy demand, which would also lead to further environmental impact mitigation. Upscaling enzymatic denim dyeing process: This ex-ante LCA was modelled using the results from a scientific study published recently. The results show that enzymatic dyeing could potentially reduce the climate impact from the denim dyeing process by 95%. In general, the results from the ex-ante LCA indicate that a significant potential for impact reduction can be achieved with this technology, and even further by a shift to a more circular feedstock which will be explored in IRIS.PVC free biobased print: This ex-ante LCA for biobased printing was modelled using specific data provided by CTB from their previous work and experience developing the technology, with the addition of energy demand estimations for heating and drying processes. The results suggest that there is potential for environmental impact reduction, but further research is needed to understand the true magnitude of this potential. Moving forward, more specific data for the stabilizer, PHA production and alternative feedstocks would improve the quality of results.

Many critical healthcare single use products are made abroad from fossil based non-woven materials and are sent for combustion after use. This study aimed to find opportunities and hindrances for more climate friendly, resilient, and circular supply chain solutions for these products. There are many studies pointing to sustainability by using recycled and renewable raw materials and improving recyclability of plastics. Non-woven materials, and especially in healthcare, suffers from several challenges and some opportunities in the needed circularity development. Design/methodology/approach: The study included actors from material production, product manufacturing and use phase. Together with researchers, tests were performed in collection of used materials, cleaning, and tests of new raw materials. Statistics and life cycle assessment data were used to estimate carbon footprint improvement potentials and focus group workshops with professionals, were used to discuss opportunities and hinders. Findings: The non-woven products used in healthcare give a significant climate impact. Holistic multi-disciplinary research is needed. Logistics, and disinfection technologies needs development for healthcare of non-woven products. Solutions for high-mix, low volumes of plastic recycling need further research. Circular transition in the healthcare sector and public procurement is desirable. Practical, societal and research implications (if applicable): By using both recycled and/or bio-based materials that can then also be recycled in the next stage, there is a potential to reduce carbon emissions by over 75%. Original/value: The study contributes empirical research along the whole circular value chain, showing practical tests connected to theoretical analysis and data on flows. Keywords: Non-Woven, Circular supply chain, Reversed logistics.

Climate change mitigation by increased paper recycling can alleviate the two-sided pressure on the Swedish forest sector: supplying growing demands for wood-based products and increasing the forest carbon sink. This study assesses two scenarios for making use of a reduced demand for primary pulp resulting from an increased paper recycling rate in Sweden, from the present 72% to 78%. A Conservation scenario uses the saved primary pulp to reduce pulplog harvests so as to increase the forest carbon sink concomitant with constant overall wood product supply. In contrast, a Substitution scenario uses the saved primary pulp to produce man-made cellulosic fibers (MMCF) from dissolving pulp replacing cotton fiber, implying increased overall wood product supply. Our results suggest that utilizing efficiency gains in paper recycling to reduce pulplog harvests is better from a climate change mitigation perspective than producing additional MMCF to substitute cotton fiber. This conclusion holds even when assuming the use of by-products from dissolving pulp making and an indirect increase in MMCF availability. Hence, unless joint improvements across the value chain materialize, the best climate change mitigation option from increased paper recycling in Sweden would seemingly be to reduce fellings rather than producing additional MMCF. 

Purpose: The textile industry faces major challenges in reducing environmental impacts along the whole value chain. The overall aim of this paper was to assess the potential environmental benefit of a circular textile value chain, by evaluating a garment partly made from a chemically recycled cellulose carbamate fibre. The cellulose carbamate technology is a novel technology that turns cotton-rich textile waste into a cotton-like regenerated fibre. Methods: Life cycle assessment was performed to evaluate the environmental impacts of a garment made from the chemically recycled fibre, considering the whole life cycle. The evaluation also considered that the garment was part of a take-back system, meaning that the garment is collected for recycling after consumer use and thereby helps in closing the loop of the circular textile value chain. The focus of the assessment was on climate impact, water scarcity impact and land use impact. Furthermore, sensitivity analyses were included to test parts of the European Commission’s product environmental footprint method, e.g. the impact of applying the circular footprint formula. Results and discussion: The results showed that using a recycled cellulose carbamate fibre over primary conventional cotton showed benefits in all considered environmental impact categories; compared to organic cotton, the benefits were also shown for the land use impact category; the cradle to gate processes were the main hotspots for the garment’s life cycle, meaning that using a recycled feedstock is not the only measure needed to reduce environmental burdens;  the use phase, and in particular using the garment to its full life length, is crucial for mitigating the environmental impact per garment use; and methodological choices related to the use of recycled feedstock, and sending materials to recycling at end-of-life, affect the outcome of the study. Conclusions: Selecting a chemically recycled cellulose carbamate fibre over primary fibres showed environmental benefits for the evaluated garment, but there are however trade-offs between different environmental impact categories and fibre types. Furthermore, using recycled fibres is one important step in reducing the environmental concerns of garments, but it is important to also make improvements along the whole textile value chain. 

In response to global challenges in resource supply, many industries are adopting the principles of the Circular Economy (CE) to improve their resource acquisition strategies. This paper introduces an innovative approach to address the environmental impact of waste Glass Fiber Reinforced-Polymer (GFRP) pipes and panels by repurposing them to manufacture structural components for new bicycle and pedestrian bridges. The study covers the entire process, including conceptualization, analysis, design, and testing of a deck system, with a focus on the manufacturing process for a 7-m-long prototype bridge. The study shows promising results in the concept of a sandwich structure utilizing discarded GFRP pipes and panels, which has the flexibility to account for variabilities in dimensions of incoming products while still meeting mechanical requirements. The LCA analysis shows that the transportation of materials is the governing contributing factor. It was concluded that further development of this concept should be accompanied by a business model that considers the importance of the contributions from the whole value chain. 

Multi-family housing construction (MFHC) with wood instead of concrete as frame material results in lower greenhouse gas emissions. Hence, substituting wood for concrete in MFHC in Sweden until 2030, and onwards to 2070, could be a promising climate change mitigation option. But to what extent, and how would it impact Sweden’s forests? Here we assess climate and biodiversity implications - in terms of the area of old forest - of a completely wood-based future MFHC in Sweden. The wood required is assumed to be exclusively sourced as additional fellings in Swedish forests, thus carbon leakage from wood imports as well as displacement of other wood uses can be disregarded. Different types of timber frame systems and the role of varying future dwelling sizes are considered. We find that the wood needed for a complete substitution of concrete would result in very minor increases in harvests. We further register slight net additional climate change mitigation, irrespective of the wood construction system. There is a small tradeoff between climate change mitigation and biodiversity, as the area of old forest reduces slightly. The largest climate benefit, and lowest impact on Swedish forests, is provided when using timber-light frame combined with reduced dwelling size. © 2023 The Authors

The fashion industry faces major challenges in reducing its environmental impacts along the textile value chain, from fibre production, via various processing steps, use phase and to the end-of-life stage. A major challenge is how to shift from the current linear industry to a circular one, where textiles are both sustainably produced, and after the full life length, recycled into new fibres with high value applications. The aim of this study was to evaluate the environmental impacts of post-consumer textile fibre-to-fibre recycling by cellulose carbamate technology, in terms of climate impact, water scarcity impact, cumulative energy demand and land use impact. By performing life cycle assessment, it was shown that the chemically recycled cellulose carbamate fibre has a climate impact of about 2.2 kg CO2-eq per kg fibre, water scarcity impact of 1.6 m3 H2O-eq per kg fibre, cumulative energy demand of 90 MJ-eq per kg fibre and land use impact of about 92 Pt per kg fibre (when applying mass allocation of co-products). Hotspots identified during the fibre production technology were electricity use and production of sodium hydroxide. In a sensitivity analysis, it was shown that the choice of electricity has a major influence on the results, and by using a renewable electricity mix over an average Finnish electricity mix, the impact could be decreased for all impact categories, except when using bioenergy, which would increase the land use impact. Compared to primary fibres like viscose and conventional cotton, these impacts are in the lower to middle range, showing potential to lower environmental impacts when moving towards an increased amounts of recycled post-consumer textile fibre with high value applications, that can replace primary fibres. 

Climate change mitigation trade-offs between increasing harvests to exploit substitution effects versus accumulating forest carbon sequestration complicate recommendations for climate beneficial forest management. Here, a time dynamic assessment ascertains climate change mitigation potential from different rotation forest management alternatives across three Swedish regions integrating the forest decision support system Heureka RegWise with a wood product model using life cycle assessment data. The objective is to increase understanding on the climate effects of varying the forest management. Across all regions, prolonging rotations by 20% leads on average to the largest additional net climate benefit until 2050 in both, saved emissions and temperature cooling, while decreasing harvests by 20% leads to the cumulatively largest net climate benefits past 2050. In contrast, increasing harvests or decreasing the rotation period accordingly provokes temporally alternating net emissions, or slight net emission, respectively, regardless of a changing market displacement factor. However, future forest calamities might compromise potential additional temperature cooling from forests, while substitution effects, despite probable prospective decreases, require additional thorough and time explicit assessments, to provide more robust policy consultation. © 2022, The Author(s).

Companies are working with life cycle thinking for different purposes such as marketing, purchasing, investments and strategies, with the objective to reduce the environmental impact from their products and services. In recent years, LCT has also been important for public policymaking and in public procurement. Methods for environmental footprinting of products and services have been and are being developed all over the world. In its communication Single Market for Green Products1 (SMGP, April 2013), the European Commission proposed actions to overcome problems on the internal market caused by this proliferation of initiatives. The SMGP established two methods, the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) and the Organisation Environmental Footprint (OEF) to ensure quality and increase transparency of environmental information and to facilitate comparisons between products’, services’ and organizations’ environmental performance. Swedish Life Cycle Center (SLC) has during the years followed and influenced the Environmental Footprint process, through participation in pilots and in the Technical Advisory Board. SLC provides an arena for industry, authorities, research institutes and universities for Roundtable dialogue on methodology aspects, possible implementation and aspects where we want to influence based on Sweden and Nordic conditions and experiences. This dialogue has resulted in research projects, public seminars, conferences and a national coordination between experts. One of the SLC project, Environmental footprint in Sweden, aims to engage Swedish actors in PEF to better understand how the implementation of PEF as well as related requirements and suggested legislation and directives will affect their work. Case studies are being performed to investigate different methodology aspects from a national perspective, communication learnings and recommendations in order to influence the PEF methodologies. A survey has been performed to identify the current situation for the actual implementation of PEF. Also, EPD and PEF similarities and differences are being investigated, which might lead to increased harmonization.The project will also be strengthening the most important outcomes of PEF; increased knowledge about LCA and products’ environmental impacts and increased collaboration within and between sectors.