Life Cycle Assessment in Hydrangea Cultivation in Colombia and their Cleaner Production strategies

In the subregion of La Paz Province in eastern Antioquia, Colombia, Hydrangea floriculture has boosted economic and social development, generating high value in the territory; however, there are still environmental gaps to be established as a sustainable activity. This study analyzed some environmental aspects of cultivation and it based on the life cycle assessment under ISO 14040/14044 standards. The functional unit defined was 1 kg of Hydrangea stems, grown on a small farm of 0.45 ha and the limits selected were on gate-to-gate. The Environmental impacts were evaluated using the CML methodology, Umberto LCA software and the Ecoinvent 3.8 da-tabase. The most significant contribution to these impacts were ozone depletion, terrestrial eco-toxicity, and photochemical oxidant formation, which comes from the application and pretreat-ment of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, plant residue generation, and fossil resource materials such as polymers and fuels. In addition, two cleaner production initiatives were considered: Composting plant residues for fertilizer (the use of 100% and 50% composting) and Integrated Pest Management with biological control and natural agents to reduce pesticide use (30% and 50% of chemical pesticides). And the integration of both actions, with 50% composting and 30% sub-stitution of chemical pesticides. The environmental impact was reduced by 19.63% and 9.97%, respectively for composting, 6.62% and 11.03%, respectively for biological control and 16.59% for integration of actions. The two alternatives allow improving the crop, contributing to minimize environmental impacts, optimizing the use of inputs and fertilizers and contributing to the sus-tainable development of floriculture.