On 21 October 2026, Mar Riera Spiegelhalder (ENT) participated as a speaker in the Natural Materials Group Lunchtime Seminar Series, organised by the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (IOM3). The online seminar focused on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) approaches applied to natural materials.
During her presentation, entitled “From Waste Wood to Social Value: Assessing the Human Impacts of Circular Timber Solutions”, Mar introduced the S-LCA methodological approach developed within the European WOODCIRCLES project to assess the potential social impacts of innovative circular solutions for wood construction.
The presentation explored how S-LCA can help identify and evaluate the social benefits, risks and trade-offs associated with recovering, recycling and reusing wood in the construction sector. Particular attention was given to stakeholder engagement, the identification of relevant social impact indicators, and the challenges and opportunities associated with the transition towards circular wood value chains.
This assessment forms part of the Sustainability and Impact Assessment work package of WOODCIRCLES, coordinated by ENT. This work combines environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the environmental, economic and social sustainability of the solutions developed within the project.
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