The role of Life Cycle Assessment in Safe and Sustainable by Design: Lessons learned from a case study on plasticizers

Abstract

Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) is a concept introduced in the Chemical Strategy for Sustainability of the European Commission, with the ambition of guiding innovation in chemicals and materials design toward the minimization of impacts on human health and the environment. To operationalize this concept, the European Commission Joint Research Centre developed a scientific framework, which integrates safety and environmental sustainability considerations. Such a framework was then adopted by the European Commission as a recommendation, for the use of companies and research institutes working on the development of chemicals and materials. The framework brings together two different aspects: safety and environmental sustainability. Safety is addressed looking at intrinsic properties of the chemicals and assessing risks related to exposure scenarios for workers, consumers, and environment, while the environmental sustainability aspect is assessed via the application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) following the provisions of the Product Environmental Footprint method. The goal of this study is to test via a case study the use of LCA to assess six plasticizers, assessing the framework’s applicability and proposing approaches to address challenges and research needs. Indeed, while literature on LCA of chemicals is expanding, there are still a number of open issues to be addressed. Seven pivotal challenges are presented and discussed in this study. They cover all the phases of the life cycle, from the goal and scope (benchmark definition and application to intermediate products) to Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) (availability of data, modeling of end of life, additional information and innovation perspective) and Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) (e.g., comprehensively addressing impacts related to substances of concern). The case study examined and the seven identified challenges are starting points for improving the implementation of the Safe and Sustainable by Design framework, promoting sustainable innovation in the manufacturing of chemicals and materials.