Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Construction Materials for Drywall Application: Plastic Waste and Natural Fiber Composite Versus Conventional Gypsum Board

Abstract

Metallized biaxially oriented polypropylene (met-BOPP) is a flexible packaging material whose aluminium layer hinders mechanical recycling. This study presents a life cycle assessment (LCA) of a met-BOPP composite reinforced with cellulosic fibers, comparing its environmental performance to that of gypsum plasterboard, a conventional material widely used in drywall systems. The functional unit was defined as the production of 1 m² of board. Primary data were obtained experimentally, and secondary data were sourced from the Ecoinvent 3.6 database, using OpenLCA 2.5 software and the ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H) impact assessment method. The results revealed substantially lower potential environmental impacts for the composite board compared to the gypsum plasterboard across several categories, with net environmental credits equivalent to 208% of the gypsum impact in Global Warming Potential, 460% in Marine Ecotoxicity, and 207% in Non-carcinogenic Human Toxicity. The environmental gains of the composite alternative result from the recycling of the post-consumer plastic waste used. A sensitivity analysis using a pure cut-off modelling, in which the met-BOPP waste enters the system burden-free and no valorization credits are granted, confirmed the environmental advantage of the composite in terms of GWP, showing a 90.8% reduction in GWP compared with gypsum plasterboard. These findings support met-BOPP composite panels as a promising low-carbon alternative for the construction sector, aligned with circular economy principles.

Keywords

Composite / Natural fiber / Plastic waste / Polypropylene bioriented / Met-BOPP / Drywall / LCA / Construction sector

Statement of the Use of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies in the Writing Process

During the preparation of this manuscript, the authors used Grammarly and generative AI tools (e.g., Perplexity, Gemini) to improve language and clarity and graphical abstract. After using these tools/services, the authors reviewed and edited the content as needed and take full responsibility for the content of the published article.

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the support of the INCT Circularidade em Materiais Poliméricos and the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, N.M.B., G.H.M. and A.d.R.D.M.; Methodology, G.H.M., A.d.R.D.M. and N.M.B.; Software, A.d.R.D.M.; Validation, G.H.M. and A.d.R.D.M.; Formal Analysis, N.M.B., G.H.M. and A.d.R.D.M.; Investigation, N.M.B., G.H.M. and A.d.R.D.M.; Resources, N.M.B., G.H.M. and A.d.R.D.M.; Data Curation, N.M.B., G.H.M. and A.d.R.D.M.; Writing-Original Draft Preparation, N.M.B.; Writing-Review & Editing, A.d.R.D.M. and G.H.M.; Visualization, G.H.M., A.d.R.D.M. and N.M.B.; Supervision, A.d.R.D.M. and G.H.M.; Project Administration, A.d.R.D.M. and G.H.M.; Funding Acquisition, N.M.B., G.H.M. and A.d.R.D.M.

Ethics Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

No new datasets were generated or analyzed for this study.

Funding

This research was funded by Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development-CNPq through INCT Circularidade em Materiais Poliméricos grant number #406925/2022-4.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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