Dear friends, I am Stefano Cipriani and dong an ecolabel that will be useful for the market, especially to increase use of recycled materials.
I have a question that would love to share here in order to receive feedback from you guys :
1) Based on LCA of a fiber that is publicly available, I do not have LCA of the recycled fiber since is not yet available from any official the case studies at present time of knowledge i2) If the recycled material is produced from preconsumer waste generated in same company that receive virgin material with available LCA , can I simply calculate the Co2 saving assuming that the global Co2 emitted from the material (virgin + recycled) that is processed togheter with same process of the 100% virgin material from beginning of the production stage is the average between Co2 of virgin material (in the % of it in final product) and zero Co2 of the preconsumer material (in the % of it in final product) with the evidence that both toghether are processed from same mill?
Any resource or suggestion to be shared will be welcome!
Thanks a lot in advance
Hey Stefano Cipriani,
Your initiative to develop an ecolabel for the market is commendable, especially in promoting the use of recycled materials. Regarding your Stefano Cipriani question, here's my take on it:
1) Since you Stefano Cipriani have access to the LCA of the virgin fiber but not the recycled one, you Stefano Cipriani can indeed estimate the CO2 savings by comparing the two scenarios: virgin material versus recycled material.
2) Calculating the CO2 saving can be approached by considering the combined CO2 emissions from both the virgin and recycled materials when processed together. Assuming they undergo the same production process, you Stefano Cipriani can take the average CO2 emissions between the virgin material and the recycled material.
However, it's essential to ensure that the recycled material truly has zero CO2 emissions from preconsumer waste. If there are any emissions associated with its processing or transportation, those should be accounted for as well.
As for resources or suggestions, you Stefano Cipriani might want to explore case studies or research papers on similar initiatives or consult with experts in the field of life cycle assessment for further insights.
Some interesting articles for reading are:
Chapter LIFE CYCLE BASED ASSESSMENT OF TRADITIONAL ADDITIVE AND INDU...
Article A Life Cycle Impact Assessment Approach to Analyze the Opera...
Article Shandilya, Kaushik, K. and Zaky, Amr, 2011, “A Life Cycle Im...
Keep up the great work, and feel free to reach out if you Stefano Cipriani need more assistance or have any other questions!
Best regards,
Kosh
First of all want share my thanks for your help and I also have another idea : would launch a message here concerning durability of garments. Brands intentionally do not want to setup a score related to durability, and nobody setup a method to have data and show to consumers a real indicator in order to buy more sustainable stuff. Something like energy rating A AAA etc. We all have the basic data on a fabric, like pilling, streng, Slippage, color fastness etc. But no one want to elaborate a method suitable to give a rating to a garment depending to the overall physical rating of fabric, the material used, the number of washing that this garment can receive without color fading, material degrading etc... This message is a call to action to develop a method capable to gicìve people a longer lasting cloth and save the environment! Anyone want to share ideas or help me in this will be appreciated in order to give this method to European Union regulators and make fashion industry obliged to rate the durability of garments on the market.
Thanks
The recycled material from preconsumer wastes are collected in same factory that receive the virgin material.
So :
1) From Virgin material official LCA the CO2 emission is (as for official sources) 0,647Kg. CO2 for each Kg. of virgin material.
2) Recycled material (Control Union certificated) is collected in same factory that process the virgin one. I assume is CO2 emitted is zero.
3) both are processed together in same way as the virgin material
4) If we add 20% of recycled material making a final 80% Virgin / 20% recycled, calculation for each kg of raw material input for me is = 0,647*0,80 = 0,5176 of total CO2 based of the certain LCA of virgin material only.
5) the final 80%virgin/20%recycled product with same process of 100% virgin then make a saving of 0,1294Kg of CO2 for each Kg. of 80/20 raw material used = having same process of virgin material.
Since making LCA certification of RECYCLED material is extremely expensive, I am now publishing white pages based on that assumption.
If anyone have some suggestion or correction here, welcome to give me further help, I am doing this to make a sustainable certification based on this assumption. This will improve the global use of this material having fashion brands using it for their products based on data that are not required as for coming correct legal frameworks all around the world.
Thanks for any further comment anyone.
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