Investigating the interplay between Circular Economy measurement and Life Cycle Assessment: an explorative analysis

The assessment of performance related to Circular Economy (CE) has increasingly gained significance, but some limitations of micro-level CE indicators are identified by the literature. Among the methodologies for measuring environmental impacts, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can be adopted to overcome some of the issues related to using CE indicators alone. Hence, this paper seeks to delve into the relationship between CE measurement and LCA and their possible interplay. For this purpose, a review of existing studies developing CE indicators or performing an LCA related to disposable packaging is conducted, confirming the need of combining these two methods for a holistic environmental assessment of CE strategies.