Purpose <p>Emerging technologies facilitate the circular economy transition by converting waste into value-added products. Environmental assessments of these technologies are increasingly gaining attention; however, scaling up remains a major challenge, leading to significant data gaps. To address this issue, this study applied an ex-ante LCA to a resource recovery solution integrated with an emerging technology, comparing three upscaling approaches: simple extrapolation, process engineering modelling, and approximation.</p> Methods <p>The ex-ante LCA was conducted in accordance with ISO 14,040 and 14,044 standards to evaluate the environmental impacts of the resource recovery solution, integrating an emerging digestate valorisation technology into a conventional anaerobic digestion plant. Life cycle inventories were compiled from a UK anaerobic digestion plant and the upscaled technology, applying the three upscaling approaches. Four near-future scenarios were developed: a business-as-usual case and three scenarios based on the respective upscaling methods. Five impact categories relevant to digestate production and management were evaluated: climate change, fine particulate matter formation, terrestrial acidification, fossil resource scarcity, and water use. Additionally, long-term future scenarios were established by adopting projected future background data, considering shared socioeconomic pathway 2, representing a middle-of-the-road development trajectory.</p> Results and discussions <p>Results show that, compared to the business-as-usual case, the resource recovery solution reduced more than 46% impacts in climate change, terrestrial acidification, and water use, primarily due to the avoided digestate storage and using recovered water. However, fine particulate matter formation and fossil resource scarcity impacts vary across upscaling methods. The process engineering modelling method demonstrated the best overall environmental performance, followed by approximation and simple extrapolation approaches. The long-term future scenario confirmed potential for improvements across all selected impact categories by 2050. Sensitivity analysis identified key parameters, including emission factors, recovery efficiencies, economic values of products, and upscaling factor.</p> Conclusions <p>This study applied ex‑ante LCA to assess the environmental impacts of a resource recovery solution and compared three upscaling methods to examine their influence on results. The findings underscore the importance of method selection, comprehensive impact assessment, and high‑quality data. Future work should include uncertainty and broader sustainability analysis. Overall, the study advances ex‑ante LCA by demonstrating how multiple upscaling approaches can address data gaps in bio‑waste resource‑recovery technologies and support early decision‑making in the anaerobic digestion sector.</p>