Environmental Assessment of the Fresh Sausage Transformation Process in the Italian Context: An LCA Study

Abstract

Abstract The problem of Climate Change and the related issues of greenhouse emissions, and energy consumption are among the most debated topics nowadays at international level. It is essential to find viable solutions also in the agri-food sector, moving towards production processes that were more sustainable, energy saver, and possibly follow a circular economy approach. The Circular Economy is not fully a brand-new concept, as it is based on a combination of fundamental and founding concepts such as Industrial Ecology, Regenerative Design, Natural Capitalism, Cradle to Cradle approach and Blue Economy. However, the novelty is in the attention that this concept is gaining among business practitioners, consultancy firms, governments, NGOs and associations, and academics. The aim of this study is to perform a Life Cycle Assessment related to one of the main products of a company of the agri-food sector in central Italy. The product analysed was fresh sausage and the functional unit considered was 100 kg of fresh sausage. The analysis was performed in order to identify the environmental impacts caused by the different transformation processes along the product life cycle, to highlight the critical phases and to plan improvements in terms of efficiency of the production process, with consequent improvement of the environmental performance. Particular attention was paid to the transport and to the energy consumption phases.