Application of Markov chain for LCA: a study on the clothes ‘reuse’ in Nordic countries

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model to count the number of cycles or trips that a clothing product could make in a reuse-based closed loop cycle. The model is primarily based on three scenarios: (i) self-reuse (ii) discard to second-hand market and (iii) disposed to incineration or the recycling stations. The present study extended and complemented the existing literature by presenting the application of the Markov chain to analyse the future of textile products on the basis of probabilities. Subsequently, the proposed model has been used to study the textile waste flow in the Nordic countries, i.e. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The application of the proposed model on the data from the Nordic Countries indicated that the average number of times the clothes reuse is highest in Denmark, whereas the lowest was found in Finland. Repair and redesign were found a hotspot for the recovery of clothes. Variation in these hotspots can increase the trip number of clothes. A sensitivity analysis is performed and conclusions are made regarding variations of clothes reuse under different scenarios. The proposed model may help in the decision formulation for the companies, government authorities and research agencies which focus on reuse and recycling of textile products. Based on the insights from the present work, the decision maker may take several initiatives to increase the life span of a textile product. © 2017, Springer-Verlag London Ltd.