TY - JOUR N2 - The transition to circular economy requires diversifying material sources, improving secondary raw materials management, including recycling, and finally finding sustainable alternative materials. Both recycled and bio-based plastics are often regarded as promising alternatives to conventional fossil-based plastics. Their broad application instead of fossilbased plastics is, however, frequently the subject of criticism because of offering limited environmental benefits. The study presents a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) of fossil-based polyethylene terephthalate (PET) versus its recycled and bio-based counterparts. The system boundary covers the plastics manufacturing and end-of-life plastic management stages (cradle-to-cradle/grave variant). Based on the data and assumptions set out in the research, recycled PET (rPET) demonstrates the best environmental profile out of the evaluated plastics in all impact categories. The study contributes to circular economy in plastics by providing transparent and consistent knowledge on their environmental portfolio. L1 - http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/119037/PDF/12-625.pdf L2 - http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/119037 PY - 2020 IS - No 4 DO - 10.24425/mper.2020.136126 KW - circular economy KW - life cycle assessment (LCA) KW - polyethylene terephthalate (PET) KW - polylacticacid (PLA) KW - recycled plastics KW - sustainable consumption KW - packaging waste management A1 - Rybaczewska-Błażejowska, Magdalena A1 - Mena-Nieto, Angel PB - Production Engineering Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Polish Association for Production Management VL - vol. 11 DA - 30.12.2020 T1 - Circular economy: comparative life cycle assessment of fossil polyethylene terephthalate (PET)and its recycled and bio-based counterparts UR - http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/dlibra/publication/edition/119037 T2 - Management and Production Engineering Review ER -