D6.2. Report on definition of method, objective and scope of LCA

The sustainable development is comprised of three dimensions: economic, environmental and social. The three dimensions greatly contribute to human well-being. Therefore, the improvement of social and environmental condition is one of the main objectives of sustainability. Under this premise, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool was developed and is currently the most widely used when it comes to access information about potential and real impacts of products, process and organizations. The tool can be applied to the assessment of economic, environmental and social aspects. In this way, the main objective of the present deliverable is to show how the LCA tool is used to assess the VALUEWASTE solution from an environmental and social point of view. This deliverable is split into two main sections: the social LCA (S-LCA) and the environmental LCA (E-LCA). Both follow the ISO 14040 framework; however, they differ on other aspects. Moreover, the E-LCA is focused on the processes within VALUEWASTE solution, whereas the S-LCA considers the consortium as an entity, evaluating the impacts on stakeholders linked to the whole project. Social Life Cycle Assessment The S-LCA pretends to evaluate the social impacts (both positive and negative) within a process, organization, etc. focusing on different stakeholders, such as workers, local community and consumers. The S-LCA makes use of generic and site-specific data which can be quantitative, semi-quantitative or qualitative. In this Section, the goal, scope, and methodology to perform the S-LCA of the VALUEWASTE solution are shown. It is important to mention that the S-LCA will be focused on those stakeholders related to the project partners. The S-LCA section is comprised of a brief introduction to the S-LCA phases, including the stages to carry it out. These phases are: i) the definition of the goal and scope of the S-LCA for the present study; ii) the life cycle inventory, where stakeholders, subcategories and social impact currently considered are shown; iii) the impact assessment, where the methodology to evaluate each social indicator is displayed; and iv) the interpretation of the results, where the subsequent steps to follow after ending the study are mentioned. Environmental Life Cycle Assessment The E-LCA is a time-tested assessment technique that evaluates environmental performance throughout the life cycle of a product or a service. The extraction and consumption of resources (including energy), as well as releases to air, water, and soil, are quantified throughout all stages. Their potential contribution to environmental impact categories is then assessed. These categories include climate change, human and eco-toxicity, ionizing radiation, and resource base deterioration (e.g., water, non-renewable primary energy resources, land, etc.). This section is comprised of i) an introduction, ii) the objective pursued by this deliverable, in its E-LCA section, iii) a general description of the LCA methodology, iv) an overall description of the production systems considered, both those that conform the baseline and those that conform the VALUEWASTE solution, v) the E-LCA development approaches which have been considered, and vi) the upcoming tasks which are forecasted to be developed