QUANTIFICATION OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCES OF A REUSE CENTRE WITH THE LCA METHODOLOGY

Abstract

Nowadays humanity overexploits the planet by at least 75%, using the equivalent of 1,75 Earths to meet its annual resource consumption and to absorb its waste generation. This occurs because the dominant economic model is currently based on a linear logic, which can be summarized through the concept "take-make-dispose". The circular economy paradigm aims to overcome the traditional linear model, first of all by prioritizing the "design" of products with an end-of-life perspective. The objective is to minimise waste generation, by creating goods optimized for their disassembly, reuse and recycling. In this regard, the Directive 2008/98/EC ("Waste Framework Directive") establishes a common legal framework for Europe: Member States must adopt an hierarchical waste management, prioritizing prevention, preparation for reuse, recycling, followed by other types of recovery and finally, as a last option, disposal. Reuse, as part of prevention measures, forms the basis of the circular economy model. In this context, this work analyses the case study of the Panta Rei reuse centre in Vimercate (MB), a structure where mainly collection and subsequent sale of reusable used goods are carried out. The aim is to examine whether and to what extent this activity can actually contribute to providing environmental benefits: the analysis quantifies the environmental impact associated with the sale of used goods, performed during the year 2022, by the reuse centre. This assessment has been conducted through the application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to 10 significant product categories. The system is composed of two main parts: the first life of the good (production, packaging, transport from industry to the first user’s home, use, waste collection, waste transport to the final treatment plant, end of life) and the second life of the good (good transport from the first user's home to the reuse centre, good transport from the reuse centre to the second user's home, reuse). The impact allocated to the first life constitutes the avoided environmental impact, while the impact allocated to the second life constitutes the additional environmental impact. From the composition of these two parts of the system, the quantification of the net environmental impact generated by the reuse of 1 item is obtained and, consequently, by integrating the information on the weight and number of items sold in 2022, the total net environmental impact associated with the entire activity of the centre is obtained.

Regarding data quality, in order to model the system and implement the LCA, mostly secondary data from the ecoinvent database, version 3.8, are used.

The analysis is carried out with the aid of the SimaPro 9.3 software and investigates 16 environmental impact categories proposed in the Environmental Footprint 3.0 characterization method.

The results show that in 2022 the centre generated environmental benefits only in 6 impact categories out of the 16 examined. Some sensitivity analyses are, therefore, carried out, showing that the environmental performance of the reuse activity is not obvious, but it depends on numerous factors: the substitution rate (it indicates to what degree the purchase of a used good replaces the purchase of a new good), the quality rate (it indicates the expected average life of a used good compared to that of a new good), the energy performance rate (it indicates the energy performance of a used good compared to that of a new good), the distance between the reuse centre and the second user’s home and the actual time of use of the good.

A 100% substitution between new and used goods, for example, would lead to environmental benefits in all the 16 impact categories.

Based on the LCA results, three key actions to improve the environmental performance of reuse centres have been thus identified: promoting citizens' awareness of the impacts of their actions, encouraging sustainable mobility when going back and forth to the reuse centre and reducing distances between reuse centres and consumers.