From bean to cup: A cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment of coffee processing pathways and waste valorization opportunities

Coffee production is a major economic activity in Latin America, Africa, and Asia but faces significant environmental challenges, including resource depletion, biodiversity loss, and climate change. This study applies a cradle-to-grave Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the Italian coffee supply chain using a functional unit of 1 kg of roasted coffee beans consumed, the Ecoinvent database, and the Environmental Footprint 3.1 method to evaluate environmental impacts across cultivation of imported green coffee beans, roasting, distribution, consumption, and end-of-life management. Results were compared with published findings for major coffee-producing regions, including Brazil, Colombia, and Ethiopia. Wet and dry processing methods were also compared, and waste valorization strategies were evaluated. The results indicate that cultivation and consumption are the principal contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and water use. Although Italy is not a coffee-producing country, the environmental hotspots identified for the assessed supply chain are consistent with those reported for major producing regions. Waste valorization, particularly of spent coffee grounds (SCGs), was identified as a promising mitigation strategy because end-of-life management accounted for more than 30% of the overall environmental burden under the baseline disposal scenario. Proposed interventions, including biogas production and organic fertilizer use, reduced greenhouse gas emissions from 3.5 to 0.62 kg CO2-eq/kg of coffee, improved the Net Energy Ratio (NER) from 0.82 to 2.2, and reduced fossil resource use from 9.9 to 6.5 MJ/kg. Data variability and limited regional specificity highlight the need for region-specific datasets and sensitivity analyses to improve the robustness of future LCA studies.