Sustainability 2021 , 13 , 9069
3of 17
The goal of this study is to verify that use of CSS as a raw material for paper production decreases energy demand and environmental costs and increases economic benefits for the Italian graphic paper sector. The results of this work provide useful insights to entrepreneurs and to policy makers, identifying environmental and economic trade-offs which could occur along the system’s life cycle. Based on the investigation performed in the CirCo activities report [24] and Boschiero & Pezzutto, 2019 [8], which are characterized by a consistent input from the CirCo project form [15], an elaborated analysis has been carried out. We explain, in detail, the context of the investigation, provide an interpretation of the main findings, and discuss its implications. The following section, Section 2, includes the materials and methodology that sup- ported the study. Section 3 specifies the primary outcomes in findings and figures. Section 4 critically evaluates the top results, and Section 5 indicates the conclusions with potential future implications and recommendations.
2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
This study aims to evaluate the environmental performance of CSS paper production compared to conventional paper production—where the raw materials include only virgin pulp and recycled paper. The CirCo project assessed graphic paper on the national (Italian) market. As a result, national average values have been used. For instances when using these values was not possible, data from the FAVINI srl paper mill (CirCo project partner) was assumed to be representative of national averages. It is assumed that the paper mill is located in northern Italy (Milan) according to the average national distribution of these companies as reported by ASSOCARTA, 2017 [25]. The functional unit that is considered is 1 kg of graphic paper. The LCA encompasses “cradle” to “grave” attributes. Both conventional paper production and silverskin paper production systems were modelled. Figures 1 and 2 provide a detailed scheme of these two systems.
Figure1. Scheme of conventional paper production system. The system boundary is represented by the dashed line and transport phases are represented by grey arrows.
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker