Changing from petroleum to wood-based materials: critical review of how product sustainability characteristics can be assessed and compared
Review article, 2013

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.

Material development

Absorbent hygiene product

Sustainable resource management

Non-renewable resources

Nappy

Sustainability assessment

Life cycle perspective

Renewable resources

Diaper

Author

Gunilla Clancy

Chalmers, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Chemical Environmental Science

Morgan Fröling

Mid Sweden University

Magdalena Svanström

Chalmers, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Chemical Environmental Science

Journal of Cleaner Production

0959-6526 (ISSN)

Vol. 39 372-385

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

Subject Categories

Materials Chemistry

Other Natural Sciences

DOI

10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.07.027

More information

Latest update

7/20/2021