Environmental benefits of compost use on land through LCA – a review of the current gaps

The use of biowaste compost on land can have beneficial effects on the plant–soil system. While the environmental impacts associated with compost production have been successfully assessed in previous studies, the assessment of the benefits of compost on plant and soil has been only partially included in few published works. In the present study, we reviewed the recent progresses made in the quantification of the effects associated to biowaste compost use on land by using life cycle assessment (LCA). Different research efforts are required for a full assessment of the potential benefits, apart from nutrient supply and carbon sequestration; additional impact categories – dealing with phosphorus resources, biodiversity, soil losses, and water depletion – may be needed for a comprehensive assessment of compost application. Several of the natural mechanisms identified and the LCA procedures discussed in the paper could be extensible to other organic fertilizers and compost from other feedstocks.