Waste Valorisation

9Life cycle Approaches for Evaluating Textile Biovalorisation Processes: Sustainable Decision‐making in a Circular Economy

Karpagam Subramanian, Shauhrat S. Chopra, Cakin Ezgi, Xiaotong Li, and Carol Sze Ki Lin

School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China

9.1 Introduction

Rapid urbanization and modernization drive many environmental changes, like pollution, threats to biodiversity, GHG emissions, and health consequences across local and global scales (Nagendra et al. 2018). It is a complex phenomenon that propels social, economic, and environmental footprints, compelling industries to achieve sustainable development in multiple dimensions (Pedro et al. 2019). Environmental problems associated with the production of conventional products using fossil fuels and consumer awareness of eco‐friendly products, have also prompted the need for sustainable production approaches (González‐García et al. 2016). Sustainable development was popularized as a concept by the Brundtland Commission (United Nations, 1987) to “meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Subsequently, the Rio Summit in 1992 introduced and emphasized a connection between society, economy, and environment as fundamental to sustainable development. Hence, sustainable production approaches that ensure social cohesion, environmental protection, and worldwide prosperity have to be developed.

The concept ...