Project Plastocene aims to effect systemic change in the packaging industry by uncovering the true lifetime cost of plastic. Currently, the impact of plastic is boiled down to a single number provided by a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) representing the carbon cost of a product from cradle to grave, incorporating environmental issues of concern such as climate change, water consumption and resource depletion. This does not account for “leakage”, whereby a product ends –up littering the natural environment. Yet, we only need to step outside our front door to see litter which proves this is not true. When it comes to more lasting and complex impact, there is no consideration.
We want to change this by demonstrating that significant environmental impacts caused by plastic packaging pollution can be incorporated into LCAs. These hidden costs include impacts on biodiversity and the benefits provided by flora and fauna, known as ecosystem services. Incorporating these hidden costs would raise awareness of the environmental consequences of plastic leakage forcing companies purchasing and producing plastics to confront their true impact, and make evidence-based decisions to shift towards more sustainable packaging. It will also empower wider society with the information they need to make purchasing decisions and support those businesses that align more closely with their values and priorities. The impact we focus on under this project is microplastics in the ocean and their impact on the marine carbon cycle, a critical planetary and climate support system.
Our vision
For a consumer to make an informed decision about which burger contains the appropriate nutrition to achieve their desired health outcomes, it doesn't help to know the worldwide total amount of saturated fat the beef industry produces each year. They need to know how much a single burger contains. Likewise, we need granular information about the real, lifetime climate impact (measured in CO2 equivalent emissions - CO2) of each piece of plastic packaging, to be able to select the packaging which achieves the environmental and climate outcomes we desire and require for the future of our planet. The funding will pay for additional, new research providing data that can contribute to revised LCA models.
This would empower the public, consumers, businesses, governments and all other stakeholders with the knowledge necessary to make informed, evidence-based decisions about the production and consumption of plastic packaging, and spur the adoption of truly sustainable, alternative packaging solutions.
Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML)
Led by Dr Samantha Garrard and Dr Matthew Cole, the PML team will contribute their expertise on the marine carbon cycle and the impact of micro plastics on plankton to incorporate into the new LCA model. Dr Samantha Garrard aims to produce policy-relevant science and is an expert on the assessment of the risk of plastic pollution to marine biodiversity and ecosystem services. She has worked on highly productive marine systems around the globe, with her current projects spanning South America, SE Asia, and the North Atlantic.
Dr Cole is a leading expert on the impact of microplastics on marine life. His pioneering research was the first to identify microplastics could be ingested and egested by plankton, which underpin aquatic food webs and marine carbon cycles. Through experimental and modelling studies, Dr Cole’s research team highlighted microplastics can alter the sinking rate of plankton faeces, potentially slowing down the marine carbon cycle. More recently, Dr Cole has been investigating the interactions between plastics, microplastics and coastal vegetative systems, including mangroves and salt marshes.
CIRAIG
CIRAIG is a research group and centre of expertise on sustainability and life cycle thinking, based at Polytechnique Montreal and ESG UQAM. Dr. Anne-Marie Boulay, Canada's Research Chair in the Impacts of Plastics in the Environment, is developing new models to address the plastic litter gaps within LCAs. She and her research team contribute to an international effort on harmonised methods development for assessing important impact pathways associated with plastic litter in life cycle assessment. Their approach has already shown how incorporation of the impacts of microplastics on biodiversity into LCAs can for example, double the impact of expanded polystyrene containers. Their research has been featured in publications including a UN Environmental Programme report on single-use packaging and its alternatives. CIRAIG will be using the research carried out by PML for developing new modelling sequences for LCAs.
The idea.
Plastic leakage into the environment is a threat to biodiversity and ecosystem services, and yet current plastic lifecycle assessments fail to account for many of the hidden costs of plastic. One such cost is the impact of marine plastic pollution on the marine carbon cycle. Ocean organic carbon is stored in marine organisms and plants in the short-term, and in marine sediments or the deep sea for timescales relevant to climate change (hundreds to thousands of years), with evidence that plastic leakage into the marine environment may disrupt the ability of the oceans to store carbon, ultimately decreasing their contribution to climate change mitigation. Yet, lifecycle assessments inventory the energy and materials that are required across the value chain of the product, calculating the corresponding emissions to the environment, but do not take this disruption into consideration.
Task 1: Impacts on the biological pump
The ocean plays a vital role in the global carbon cycle. Approximately 30% of global atmospheric carbon is transferred to the deep sea via the biological pump. The biological pump is dominated by plankton: (1) phytoplankton (microscopic plants) convert carbon dioxide into biomass, (2) zooplankton (microscopic animals) eat this carbon biomass, (3) zooplankton faeces sink, transporting this carbon from sea surface to seafloor. Our research has demonstrated microplastics can impair the ability for zooplankton to feed on phytoplankton, negatively affect the health of zooplankton and reduce the sinking speed of their faeces. All of these factors can combine to slow down the biological pump with negative impacts on carbon cycling and therefore causing a loss of oceanic carbon sequestration. In this task, we will undertake robust laboratory experiments to provide valuable additional data on the impacts of microplastics on the biological pump, which will directly feed into a revised LCA model that incorporates marine carbon cycling effects.
Task 2: Impacts on coastal blue carbon
Coastal vegetation, including mangroves, seagrasses and salt marshes, contribute to the capture of vast amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide via photosynthesis. These “blue carbon” habitats are increasingly threatened by plastic pollution due to their close proximity to coasts and rivers, and their ability to trap plastic debris. Plastic density has been shown to negatively correlate to mangrove and seagrass health. However, we lack robust analysis of how plastic pollution might impact the ability for coastal vegetation to effectively capture and store carbon.
Task 3: LCA modelling
There is limited research in the field of LCAs looking at the impacts of plastics after disposal when they enter the marine environment, and only few models have attempted to quantify these impacts. This has led to the circularity myth, the idea that plastics are perfectly recycled and that their impact ends once they are disposed of. However, growing evidence and data tells us that the reality is very different, and that additional impact pathways for plastics should be modelled for use within LCA.
CIRAIG will incorporate PML’s cutting edge marine research into novel new LCA models. In fact, the generated laboratory results will allow for a detailed modelling of the impacts of microplastics on the biological carbon pump, through multiple effects on phyto- and zooplankton. The modelled loss of oceanic carbon sequestration will be incorporated in the true carbon cost of plastics, allowing industry and policymakers to make evidence-based decisions.