Printed
electronics are expected to meet an increasing demand for
improved functionality and autonomy of products in the context of
Internet-of-Things. With this trend, the environmental performance
of novel technologies is of growing importance. The current study
presents the life cycle assessment of two novel devices: an anticounterfeit
label based on the electrochromic display and a shock-detection tag
based on the piezoelectric sensor, designed for the use in packaging
of pharmaceuticals and luxury items to improve the safety and accountability
in the supply chain. The devices are manufactured by means of energy-efficient
printing techniques on a low-cost flexible and recyclable paper substrate.
Comprehensive cradle-to-grave analysis contributes to industrial-scale
energy and material life cycle inventories and identifies the main
impact hotspots evaluated for a broad range of categories of the ReCiPe
midpoint (H) impact assessment method. Results show that major impact
burdens are associated with the near-field communication chip and
radio-frequency identification antenna, while the impacts of solvents,
process energy, electrochromic display/piezoelectric sensor, Li-ion
battery, and substrate are comparatively small. In terms of their
global warming potential, both the anticounterfeit label and shock-detection
tag embody around 0.23 kg of CO2-equiv. Several material-use
reduction and material-substitution strategies are quantified and
discussed for their potential to reduce high impacts of the antenna.
The application of circularity strategies to improve resource use and recovery should be considered with their potential impacts on the environment. Their effectiveness could be evaluated by combining the material circularity indicator (MCI) and life cycle assessment (LCA) methods. Environmental trade-offs may be underestimated for some strategies given that the loss of material quality with recycling has not been captured within the methodological framework of MCI. The current study demonstrates how significantly this limitation may influence the trade-offs in a case study. The methods are applied to several scenarios for the circularity improvement of alkaline batteries. The joint interpretation of MCI and LCA scores is carried out using waterfall charts and normalized indicator scores. Results suggest that improving circularity generally reduces environmental impacts, although there is large variability among two sets of values. For example, an increase of MCI score by 14% for two recycling scenarios translates to a small reduction of impacts in one case (0.06–1.64%) and a large reduction in another (9.84–56.82%). Observations from the case study are used to discuss the design and scope of MCI use and its combining with LCA. Lastly, we draw on the opportunities of the new comparative approach.
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