Minimizing the environmental impacts of plastic through eco-design

While plastic pollution threatens ecosystems and human health, the use of plastic products continues to increase. Limiting its harm requires strategies when designing plastic products informed by the threats plastics pose to the environment. Thus, we developed a sustainability metric for the eco-design of plastic products with low environmental persistence and uncompromised performance. To do this, we integrated the environmental degradation rate of plastic into established material selection strategies, deriving material indices for environmental persistence. By comparing indices for the environmental impact of on-the-market plastics and proposed alternatives, we show that accounting for environmental persistence in design could translate to societal benefits of hundreds of millions of dollars for an individual consumer product. Our analysis identifies which materials deserve adoption and investment to create functional and less environmentally impactful products.