20.500.12556/DKUM-98918 Quantitative social life cycle assessment of plastic, bioplastic, and paper packaging systems Social impacts in packaging supply chains remain underexplored compared to environmental and economic aspects, despite their growing relevance in sustainability decision-making. This study applies Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) to evaluate the social sustainability of three carrier bag types: low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plastic, polylactic acid (PLA) bioplastic and kraft paper. The assessment is conducted using OpenLCA by integrating primary data with the SOCA V2 database, and focuses on four stakeholder groups, including Local Communities, Society, Value Chain Actors, and Workers. Social impacts are quantified across life cycle stages and stakeholder categories. Results are expressed as “medium risk hours,” a relative indicator used for comparative hotspot identification. The results indicate that Society and Value Chain Actors face high to very high risks (>40%) across all materials, highlighting potential areas for improvements. The PLA bioplastic bag exhibits the highest social impacts during raw material production, while the kraft paper bag performs worst in manufacturing and end-of life treatment. Overall social impacts rank PLA bioplastic highest (95.79 medium risk hours), followed by kraft paper (54.45), and LDPE plastic (35.15), a ranking that challenges common assumptions about the sustainability of bioplastics and paper alternatives. This quantitative social impact analysis provides clear, data-driven insights into social risk hotspots and improvement opportunities. social pillar of sustainability social life cycle assessment S-LCA packaging applications plastics bioplastics and paper OpenLCA krožno gospodarstvo ambalaža bioplastika papir true false true Elsevier Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-cleaner-production Članek v reviji 2026-07-17 10:34:48 2026-07-17 10:34:49 2026-07-20 09:23:59 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2026 0 0 14 str. št. članka 148939 Letn. 573 2026 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 2026-06-17 2026-07-08 2026-07-14 620.92/.98 285182211 10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.148939 1879-1786 Quantitative_social_life_cycle_assessm-Si-2026.pdf Quantitative_social_life_cycle_assessm-Si-2026.pdf 1 C9ED6A04A7836F9E2DEC44BA9510A281 abe4a2453f605cf054e5524617062894f4898c6cc16dc7c9313a1268dcf353ba 1bd8b1b6-81bb-11f1-a6d3-00155d580e34 https://dk.um.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=208357 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652626014800?via%3Dihub 0 f979240e-840b-11f1-a07d-00155d580e34 https://dk.um.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=208402 Fakulteta za kemijo in kemijsko tehnologijo 0 0 0