We would like to announce the update of the Circularity Package for openLCA, now in its version 2. The database incorporates circularity indicators and traces circularity variables on top of ecoinvent 3.10 cut-off database. That is, the user can make a usual LCA model in openLCA but can now also assess circularity with this database.

To obtain Circularity Package v2, visit our market place for data, openLCA Nexus: https://nexus.openlca.org/database/Circularity%20Package.

Those that have a valid maintenance can already download the update.

Background

Both Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as a tool and Circular Economy as a concept work towards sustainable development, only that both approaches are currently done individually: one assessment doesn’t include the other.

Circularity indicators can benefit hugely from a life cycle perspective, where circularity is considered not only in the last production stages but from the very beginning of raw material extraction. However, there is no current well-rounded solution for the integration of both, even though there have been initiatives from common LCA software. A lack of perspective of the overall picture of a product’s supply chain, or a lack of a good way to quantify circularity can very easily lead to misleading ideas over a good circular decision, or very bluntly: greenwashing.