THE INTEGRATED USE OF LCA AND GIS IN ORDER TO FACILITATE REUSE AND ENHANCEMENT OF PRE-CONSUMER SCRAP/WASTE COMING FROM INDUSTRIAL SECTOR

Abstract

The re-use and the valorisation of pre-consumer waste coming from the extraction/cultivation of the raw material and from industrial activities, represent strategies to promote circular economy scenarios aimed at achieving objectives such as: activation of industrial synergies (waste/scraps as secondary raw materials), reduction of the use of virgin resources, land protection (decrease in the growth of landfills and lower impact on the territory), and improvement of the product environmental profile. These goals can be achieved by pursuing different strategies, all requiring an adequate information base, knowledge sharing and procedures for the evaluation of alternative scenarios. On these premises, the research is based on the belief that through a deep knowledge of scraps/waste, of the possible re-use/recycling strategies and their related impacts, it is possible to establish virtuous mechanisms for the environmental improvement. The research, based on the value of information and knowledge about scraps/waste and their environmental impacts (related to their disposal in the territory or to reuse/recycling processes), led to the structuring of a database for the systematization of information concerning waste/pre-consumer scraps and a prototype of GIS maps for the contextualization on the territory of the environmental impacts assessed by means of the LCA. The database was built with the aim to make transparent the production processes and material flows, so that they can be interpreted and managed with the goal of identifying sustainable industrial scenarios based on the valorisation of secondary raw material. The GIS maps, on the other hand, aim to contextualize on the territory the impacts in order to study them and to identify room for improvement by comparing similar activities. In the paper we will often refer to more thorough case study which is related to the natural stone production, identified for its close relationship with the territory and its massive production of scraps and pre-consumer waste.