Guiding sustainable waste management: LCA-based evaluation of trade-offs in high-quality recycling of paper and board from lightweight packaging waste

The expanding global market of fiber-based composite packaging and rising recycling targets necessitate high-quality recycling routes, which involve the reutilization of fibers in comparable applications. As existing treatment routes for paper and board (PB) from German lightweight packaging waste are limited to thermal recovery and low-quality recycling abroad, a novel process for high-quality recycling has been developed. This raises the question: Can high-quality recycling in Germany enhance recycling rates while simultaneously reducing environmental impacts compared with existing treatment routes? To address this question, we conducted a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) with the functional unit “Treatment of 1 ton PB”. Analyzed scenarios were incineration, low-quality recycling abroad and novel high- and low-quality domestic recycling processes. We used primary data from technical assessments to establish a comprehensive model foundation for our study. Our results indicate that the main contributors to global warming potential (GWP), cumulative energy demand (CED), land occupation potential (LOP), and water consumption potential (WCP) are transport, stock preparation, and thermal treatment across all scenarios. For high-quality recycling, GWP decreased from 148 to 93 kg CO 2 -Eq/t compared with recycling abroad but increased compared with incineration with 51 kg CO 2 -Eq/t. CED and LOP decreased from −483 to −2,533 MJ-Eq/t and from −83 to −156 m 2 ∗a crop-Eq/t, respectively, when comparing high-quality recycling with recycling abroad. No significant differences were found for WCP. These findings provide essential guidance for developing circular economy strategies and legal frameworks by highlighting the importance of LCA in minimizing trade-offs and burden shifting in waste management.