Microplastics – Nanoplastics, Life Cycle Analysis and Environmental Risk Assessment

A global agreement to end plastic pollution must be based on pertinent, multi-disciplinary knowledge. Consideration of the full life cycle impacts of plastics and substitutes is important to achieve sustainable solutions rather than shifting the burden. Hence, this process requires considerations of fossil-based and biobased feedstocks for plastic production, plastic chemicals, and additives, plastic degradation pathways and intermediates, environmental impacts, ecotoxicological and human health effects, socio-economic costs, etc. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool to assess the full life cycle impacts considering many impacts mid and end-point impact categories such as climate change, ecotoxicity, human toxicity, etc. However, the present LCA methodological approaches have limitations in including the impacts of microplastics in the LCA. The two of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) interest groups (Microplastics interest group and LCA interests group) bring this into the discussion at the 43rd North American Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh.