Mycelium Packaging Inserts and Lead Acid Batteries Inventory Data and Results

This chapter focuses on the life cycle analysis (LCA) of both regenerative and non-regenerative materials, highlighting how various stakeholders can make more informed decisions about the life cycle of a product, such as material choices and post-use options, to promote sustainability and circularity. Making informed decisions becomes increasingly important as the growing global population has driven increasing demand for products and services, creating a need for sustainable practices across all life cycle stages. Thus, it is incumbent upon manufacturers to adopt design and manufacturing practices that align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, governmental laws and regulations, industrial sustainability standards, and other relevant policies. Sustainable design and manufacturing decision-making involves considering the environmental, social, and economic impacts across a product’s life cycle, including material sourcing, production processes, and post-use management. This chapter examines the roles of key decision-makers, including designers, engineers, materials scientists, business leaders, and consumers, and how their decisions influence product sustainability performance in terms of materials, design choices, manufacturing techniques, and the adoption of circularity principles. Furthermore, the interconnection between circularity and sustainability principles is examined, with a particular focus on the environmental dimension of sustainability. A central theme of this chapter is life cycle engineering, which involves assessing the environmental impacts of products across all life cycle stages, from extraction and processing to use and post-use, while considering the implications for human health, resource use, and the ecosystem. The chapter also addresses why decision-makers should consider life cycle thinking when evaluating material and product alternatives or manufacturing techniques, as well as factoring circularity principles into post-use options. Key tools and frameworks for assessing sustainability performance are introduced, along with their application in evaluating a biobased, consumer electronics product. Using the ISO 14040:2006 standard for LCA, two case studies are presented to demonstrate the application of life cycle thinking and circularity principles. These studies consider the life cycle implications of producing, using, and post-use options for biobased packaging inserts and batteries from regenerative and non-regenerative materials, respectively. The chapter concludes with a forward-looking discussion of the challenges and opportunities in advancing sustainable decision-making, offering insights into the future of circular economy practices and sustainability thinking.