Assessing sustainability of plastic recycling technologies through Key Performance Indicators from a value chain perspective

Abstract

Circular economy initiatives aim to close material loops within an organization and between the different actors in a value chain. The approach of assessing environmental, economic and social impacts throughout different sectors in a value chain can become complex, but the use of life cycle thinking and the Triple Bottom Line approach help correctly evaluate sustainability. Furthermore, the complexity of technological innovations focused on improving the sustainability of value chains requires solutions that help measure, quantify, and evaluate their life cycle more dynamically and precisely. This paper proposes a sustainability assessment of such complex value chains for the circular economy, considering a set of Key Performance Indicators and a calculation platform that facilitates their validation and, thus, decision-making according to the sector's preferences. The case under study assesses the sustainability of a plastic waste value chain, which aims to apply a microwave-assisted pyrolysis recycling technology to improve its circularity. Firstly, a literature review on sustainability Key Performance Indicators is carried out, from which several are selected and prioritized through a multi-criteria decision-making methodology, allowing aggregation and combination of information. A prioritized selection of Key Performance Indicators is presented along with their formulas and indications for input into the calculation platform to anticipate issues such as data gaps that can arise from the different contributions from the plastic value chain actors involved.