Summary Eco‐efficiency (i.e., increasing value while reducing resource use and pollution) can with advantage be combined with eco‐effectiveness (i.e., maximizing the benefits to ecological and economical systems) to address the challenges posed by the circular economy in the design of circular industrial systems. We present a framework combining life cycle assessment (LCA) and the Cradle to Cradle® (C2C) certification program for the development of continuous loop packaging systems, which was conceived for aluminum cans in the context of the Carlsberg Circular Community. As a first step, the environmentally optimal beverage packaging life cycle scenario is identified, both in terms of defined use and reuse. Second, the limiting factors are identified for the continuous use of materials in multiple loops, meeting the two requirements in the C2C certification process that address the material level (i.e., “material health” and “material reutilization” criteria) and the “renewable energy” criterion. Then, alternative scenarios are built to meet C2C certification criteria, and LCA is used to quantify the environmental impacts of the resulting improvement strategies, for example, change in material composition, in order to guide the identification of the optimal scenario from an eco‐efficiency point of view. Finally, the business perspective is addressed by assessing the potential for a green value network business model for a closed‐loop supply. The outcome is a list of prioritized actions needed to implement the most efficient and effective “upcycling” strategy for the beverage packaging, both from an environmental and an economic point of view. In the case of the aluminum cans, the main recommendation from both the LCA and C2C perspective is to ensure a system that enables can‐to‐can recycling.

Despite their different scopes, both the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology and the Cradle to Cradle (C2C) Certified TM Product Standard can support companies in the implementation of circular economy strategies. Considering the case of aluminium cans, the objectives of this paper are twofold: (i) to compare the environmental impact associated with different levels of two C2C certification requirements by using LCA; and (ii) to identify the main challenges and drawbacks in the combined use of LCA and C2C for packaging within the circular economy framework.Twenty different scenarios were developed and compared, according to three C2C certification levels, in terms of % renewable energy and % recycled content. The results show that increasing the recycled content provides more improvements to environmental impacts than increasing renewable energy usage.Furthermore, receiving a higher certification level does not necessarily mean environmental burden reduction in LCA sense.From a methodological point of view, the main challenge for LCA is to address the continuous loop of materials and account for the benefits from recycling in a consistent way. Meanwhile for C2C the challenge is to guarantee a proper translation of the C2C principles into the C2C certification program, avoiding burden shifting and to find a balance between the different certification requirements. Keywords