PROMICON Asks, Biopolis and UPC Answer: Team 'Exploitation'

We are ending our #PAPA campaign with a further elaboration on Work Package 5 and Team “Exploitation”. This time Biopolis and UPC are explaining to us more about the assessments of the products produced by PROMICON.

Environmental, economic and social impacts

Regarding social performance, a Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) will be carried out to assess the impacts generated by the production of the bio-based products on different stakeholders which are: workers, consumers, value chain actors, local communities and society. Different indicators will be considered, such as health & safety, acceptability, employment generation and technological development. Moreover, different bio-based products will be compared (e.g. pigments, EPS, PHA, PHB, hydrogen) considering their sole and simultaneous production. The results will thus show the scenarios that have better social performances and the social aspects that should be improved to ensure the sustainability of the production of the considered bio-based products.

Social life-cycle assessment (S-LCA) 

The S-LCA is a method that can be used to assess the social aspects of products or processes, and their actual and potential positive as well as negative impacts along the life cycle. This tool considers the impact on different stakeholders during the whole product or process life cycle. It means that the analysis considers the extraction and processing of raw materials, manufacturing, distribution, use, reuse, maintenance, recycling and final disposal.

S-LCA follows the ISO 14040 and the UNEP Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment of Products that proposes a methodology. The results of this analysis will show the social performance of the product/process under study, the stakeholders that benefit the most, and the aspects that should be improved to ensure the social sustainability of the process considered.

PROMICON Asks, Biopolis and UPC Answer: Team "Exploitation"