Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Recycled Coarse Aggregate and Textile Waste Fibers

Abstract

The use of textile waste and recycled concrete as alternative construction materials is important for advancing sustainability and encouraging a circular economy. In developing countries such as Pakistan, improper disposal of concrete and textile waste significantly adds toward environmental degradation. This study quantifies the Global Warming Potential (GWP) and Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) associated with the production of Recycled Coarse Aggregates (RCA) and recycled textile fibers. A cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was conducted using the OpenLCA framework, incorporating Ecoinvent and NEEDS databases, and tailored to the Pakistani context with the 2025 energy mix. The results indicate that producing 1 ton of RCA results in a GWP of 8.86 kg CO2e, while 1 kg of recycled textile fiber emits 0.212 kg CO2e. Transportation is the primary energy consumer in the textile fiber sector, accounting for 76% of total demand, whereas processing machinery is the main contributor to RCA-related emissions. Recycled textile fibers exhibit a substantially lower carbon footprint compared to conventional synthetic fibers such as PET, basalt, and macro-synthetic fibers. This study sets an important environmental benchmark, demonstrating that RCA and recycled textile fibers are viable low-carbon, circular material strategies for the local construction sector.