Building material toxicity and life cycle assessment: A systematic critical review
Belén Rey-Álvarez, Benito Sánchez-Montañés, Antonio García Martínez
Abstract
This review systematically analyses the most relevant contributions published in the area of toxicity of building materials and their evaluation from the perspective of life cycle analysis to give a critical view of the relationship between the two fields. For this review, the systematic literature review methodology was chosen. With this methodology, it is possible to identify the most important sources and obtain a complete reading of the state of the question. The review shows that most articles on the toxicity of building materials focus on the usage phase, ignoring the life cycle perspective. On the other hand, the different Life Cycle Assessment methodologies start from different inventories, so the results will vary depending on the chosen method. In all cases, the predictions on toxicity are underestimated, so they are considered a secondary impact, and also the effects of bioaccumulation have not been integrated into the methodology. The main conflictive points found are discussed, such as the lack of coverage of substances widely used in the construction sector or the need to integrate new impacts.