Sustainability Indicators for Biobased Product Manufacturing: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Indicators are effective decision-supporting tools to assess and evaluate progress toward sustainability for a given system. This paper reviews the literature on the four pillars of sustainability (environmental, economic, technical, and social) and relevant indicators used in the agricultural, manufacturing, and materials sectors to determine a framework for manufacturing biobased products as only individual sectors have been studied in detail. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) methodology is used to select 40 papers for review in this study. This paper suggests 22 categories encompassing 33 core measurable indicators with respective units for biobased manufacturing sectors to determine the sustainability of an end product while holistically understanding the standpoint of biomaterial industries in assessing a sustainable supply chain.