Assessment of natural rubber plantation life cycle in China

Using China’s natural rubber plantation as a case study, this paper classified natural rubber plantation life cycle into four stages—raw material, agrochemical production, natural rubber cultivation and transportation stages. The life-cycle assessment (LCA) method was used to evaluate potential environmental impacts of tapping 1.00 kg dry rubber under identified potential impacts, including global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP), human toxicity potential (HTP) and abiotic depletion potential (ADP). This inventory analysis showed that the order of potential impacts of China’s natural rubber plantation was as follows: AP > EP > GWP > HTP > POCP > ADP. The respective impact indices were 1.76×10^-12, 4.31×10^-13, 1.37×10^-13, 1.96×10^-15, 9.69×10^-18 and 4.88×10^-19, with an average impact index of 4.32×10^-13. Reduced chemical fertilizer utilization and enhanced fertilization efficiency were critical for mitigating the impact of rubber plantation on the environment. This could be achieved via effective reduced energy consumption, fertilizer production emissions, and soil fertilizer loss.