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The textile sector accounts for the fourth-highest usage of primary raw materials and water (after food, housing, and transport), the second-highest usage of land, and the fifth highest Green House Gases (GHG) emissions (EEA, 2017). While Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been widely used to assess the environmental impact of fashion, most studies are constrained by the lack of reliable data. Blockchain technology may enable better traceability by making origin and journey more transparent. The potential to integrate LCA and blockchain has been discussed in other sectors, but specific protocols in the fashion sector are largely missing. This study aims to address this by a) exploring the use of LCA to measure the impact reduction potential of circular strategies and b) proposing a protocol for the integration of LCA and BC to accurately assess circular practices. Using leather handbags as a case study, an LCA study is conducted comparing two circular scenarios against a baseline to quantify potential benefits from circular strategies. Subsequently, it builds a blockchain-based LCA framework to unleash circularity opportunities through enhanced traceability and data sharing. Results point to substantial environmental benefits from the circular strategies, for example, circular scenario 2 (reuse markets/second-hand leather bag) was estimated to cause between 34.8% and 53.8% lower impacts while circular scenario 1 (leather alternative) contributed to impact reduction of more than 35% of the impacts in most impact categories (10 out of 18). The results also highlight the contribution of blockchain technology to enable traceability and reliable data for identification of environmental hotspots and accurate quantification of circular potential.
Shou et al. (Sun,) studied this question.