Posted: 05/11/2026

From LCA Research to Practical Evidence for Your Business

Life cycle assessment can provide valuable evidence for decisions about materials, products, recycling and circularity. But finding the right studies, understanding what they actually demonstrate and using their results correctly can be challenging.

We are therefore trialling a new complementary service for LCA Library users (BPF members and RECOUP members) to help bridge the gap between existing LCA research and your specific business needs.

Do you have a question that needs robust evidence? For example:

– What range of CO₂ savings can we expect from using recycled material for a particular application?

– What does the available evidence tell us about the environmental performance of different recycling processes for a particular polymer?

– Are there existing studies that can support an environmental claim we are considering making?

– What does the evidence say about a particular material or packaging format substitution?

– Do we need to commission a new LCA, or is there already sufficient evidence available?

Bring us your question, and we will work with you to identify and interpret the relevant evidence available through the LCA Library.

How will it work?

Initial discussion

Evidence review

We will search the LCA Library and identify relevant studies, considering their scope, methodology, assumptions and limitations. We will provide a short summary of the most relevant studies and what they can and cannot tell about your question.

Applying the evidence

We will then have a final discussion with you to explore how the evidence can be used to support your decision-making or communication.

The aim is not to produce a new LCA, or to make a claim on your behalf. It is to help you make better use of research that has already been undertaken and avoid misinterpreting evidence or making claims that go beyond what the studies support.