Accounting the effects of product reuse and repair in life-cycle assessment

Abstract

Sustainability and life-cycle assessment (LCA) studies of circular product value chains show evidence of considerable difficulty in capturing events such as product reuse and repair, because of unclear and uncertain representation of product displacement and behavioural-related factors. The present study examines how an approach based on displacement of product function and direct calculation of environmental impacts across partial life cycles might remedy these issues. A calculation framework based on the concept of environmental value and its depreciation along a life cycle is presented. Results for two value chains with qualitatively quite different features illustrate the utility and flexibility of the framework. The work offers significant conceptual advances in both recognising and measuring the relative impacts of using newer or older products providing the same function. As such it determines tangible environmental benefits for the use of older products which is a pre-requisite for reduced overall consumption and macro-level sustainability improvement.