Case study of Life Cycle Assessment and sustainable business model for sea urchin waste

Climate change and the accumulation of waste are major challenges facing the world in the 21st century and have substantial impacts on the environment. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that food waste amounts to 1.3 billion tonnes per year. This study aims to explore the potential for reusing sea urchin waste to develop eco-sustainable products. A sustainable business model based on the environmental benefits of sea urchin exoskeleton waste is presented as an example. The powder, which can serve as a calcium supplement for laying hens, is evaluated using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and two different scenarios are considered. The results of the LCA analysis show that the Alternative scenario, which involves the reuse of sea urchin waste, has significantly lower negative impacts compared to the Baseline scenario, based on disposal of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (ORMSW). Although the sea urchin market is niche, the potential benefits from its waste are countless. The LCA-based approach and sustainable business model demonstrate the feasibility of creating new eco-sustainable products from sea urchin waste.