## 1 Introduction
LCA has been successfully conducted for the comparison of the environmental impacts of plastic waste, the upcycling of printed plastics [15], single-use and reusable cups [16], plastic, bioplastic, and aluminum bottles [7], packaging films made from fossil and natural resources [17; 18], printing inks [19; 20], and printing machines [21]. [PERSON] et al. [22] investigated the footprint patterns of the plastics value chain in the European Union Member States. According to [22], the EU countries are shifting towards a circular economy, but GHG emission reduction, despite material recycling, is not observed. [PERSON] et al. [23] applied LCA to analyze the environmental impact of the plastic wrapping of cucumbers. They found that the environmental cost of the additional use of plastic outweighed the amount of cucumbers saved from spoilage. LCA has been applied to assess the environmental impact of 3D printing compared to conventional construction methods in large-scale structural fabrication [24]. LCA was be successfully applied to assess a 3D printing process [25]. Finally, LCA was used by [PERSON] et al. [26] for the assessment of the impact and energy consumption of 3D-printed medicines. LCA analysis is a helpful tool, allowing us to diagnose energy consumption and plan cleaner production regarding environmental efforts. [PERSON] et al. [27] have applied the LCA method to evaluate the impact of PE and paper adhesive labels. It turned out that the environmental indicators for PET are lower due to the larger mass of glassine paper, which affects production, transportation, and waste management [27]. He et al. investigated packaging lamination techniques through LCA to assess the use of the solventless film lamination process as a sustainable alternative to the conventional lamination process [28]. Apart from GHG emissions, LCA analyses can be applied to consider several impacts, such as toxicity to ecosystems and humans, to quantify the degree to which a particular substance causes damage to living organisms [29]. Chemical compounds can be released into the environment, air, water, soil, etc., as pollutants at all life cycle stages of products, services, and systems. The emission quotas for various products may contain many chemical contaminants, many of which can potentially cause ecotoxic effects on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, damaging the quality of ecosystems. The current study aims to quantify the impact of a printing company preparing printing production on the natural environment. It should be highlighted that proof printing is an essential technological operation that is conducted before the final printing. To the best of our knowledge, there is no LCA evaluation of the impact of proof printing on the environment. In this paper, the LCA analyses were carried out to calculate and compare the environmental sustainability of proof printing on a target and that of standard hard proofing, both conducted by a printing company located in Poland. For this purpose, calculation of the GHG emissions associated with a project's preparation for printing started with the raw material production, graphic design by a creative agency, the transfer of files ready for printing, the proof printing process, and waste disposal. We have previously discussed the challenges of implementing the LCA and carbon footprint methodologies for assessing the environmental impacts of proofing methods.