Life cycle assessment of innovative circular business models for modern cloth diapers

摘要

Brazil, an emerging economy with more than 208 million inhabitants, is currently one of the biggest consumers of disposable diapers worldwide, generating huge waste streams to sanitary landfills or dumps. This take-make-dispose system causes high material and fuel consumption and serious environmental impacts. The concept of the Circular Economy, promoting that material flows should be circular, material and energy efficiency should be maximized and residues, as far as possible, designed out, has continuously gained attention over the last decade. For a Circular Economy, technological innovation, new business models and changes in consumer behavior are needed. The present study compares the use of modern cloth diapers and disposable diapers via a screening Life Cycle Assessment, checking conventional and innovative circular business models for the application of modern cloth diapers, such as the leasing or pay-per-service models, while focusing on the regional context of Brazil. Results indicate that cloth diapers show generally a better environmental performance than disposable diapers, whose poor performance is mainly due to their end-of-life treatment in sanitary or unsanitary landfill, provoking high greenhouse gas emissions. For cloth diapers, the most advantageous product system consists in a diaper-as-service model at large scale, using efficient continuous batch washers for sanitizing the diapers. Diaper-as-service models at smaller scale in so-called on-premise laundries show poorer environmental performance, due to higher water and energy needs. Domestic laundering of diapers is a good alternative regarding its environmental performance, because of its low energy consumption. However, consumers accustomed with disposable diapers might be reluctant to engage with this additional domestic labor. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.