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Biobased Compostable Plastics End-of-Life: Environmental Assessment Including Carbon Footprint and Microplastic Impacts
Summary
This paper argues that traditional environmental assessments for plastics overlook two important issues: accurate carbon footprint comparisons and microplastic persistence. The authors show that compostable bio-based plastics can be fully broken down through industrial composting, offering a real solution to microplastic accumulation. They call for microplastic persistence to be included as a standard factor when comparing the environmental impact of different plastic materials.
In this paper, we examine how traditional life-cycle assessment (LCA) for bio-based and compostable plastics overlooks issues surrounding carbon sequestration and microplastic persistence. To outline biased comparisons drawn from these omitted environmental impacts, we provide, as an example, a comparative LCA for compostable biobased vs. non-compostable fossil-based materials. In doing so we (1) demonstrate the proper way to capture carbon footprints to make fair comparisons and (2) identify the overlooked issues of microplastics and the need for non-persistent alternatives. By ensuring accurate biogenic carbon capture, key contributors to CO2 evolution are properly identified, allowing well-informed changes to formulations that can reduce the environmental impact of greenhouse gas emissions. In a complimentary manner, we summarize the growing research surrounding microplastic persistence and toxicity. We highlight the fundamental ability and the growing number of studies that show that industrial composting can completely mineralize certified compostable materials. This mineralization exists as a viable solution to combat microplastic persistence, currently an absent impact category in LCA. In summary, we propose a new paradigm in which the value proposition of biobased materials can be accurately captured while highlighting compostables as a solution for the increasing microplastic accumulation in the environment.
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