Changing from petroleum to wood-based materials: critical review of how product sustainability characteristics can be assessed and compared

• This paper reports on a literature survey on available approaches for the assessment of product sustainability, with a specific focus on assessing the replacement of non-renewable petroleum-based materials with renewable wood-based materials in absorbent hygiene products. The results are contrasted to needs in a specific material development project. A diverse number of methods exist that can help in assessing different product sustainability characteristics for parts of or whole product lifecycles. None of the assessment methods found include guidelines for how to make a case-specific interpretation of sustainability and there is a general lack of assessment parameters that can describe considerations in the comparison between the use of wood or petroleum as main raw material. One reason for this is lack of knowledge and/or consensus on how to describe and assess impacts of land and water use, e.g. on ecosystem services, different types of resource depletion and social impacts.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Kemi -- Materialkemi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Chemical Sciences -- Materials Chemistry (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Naturresursteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Environmental Engineering (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Annan naturvetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Other Natural Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Non-renewable resources

Renewable resources

Sustainability assessment

Life cycle perspective

Sustainable resource management

Material development

Diaper

Nappy

Absorbent hygiene product

Environmental chemistry

Miljökemi

Construction materials

Konstruktionsmaterial

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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