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Life Cycle Assessment of PLA Products: A Systematic Literature Review
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This review of 81 studies examined the environmental impact of polylactic acid (PLA), a plant-based plastic promoted as a sustainable alternative to fossil-fuel plastics. Surprisingly, PLA had higher environmental impacts than conventional plastics in categories like marine pollution and human toxicity, mainly due to the farming required to grow its raw materials. This matters because as PLA products become more common, they may still break down into microplastics and contribute to pollution, while not being as eco-friendly as often assumed.
The rising concerns about environmental harm and pollution create a setting for the search for better materials to produce more sustainable products. Plastic plays a crucial role in modern life and most of the commonly used are of fossil origin. Polylactic Acid (PLA) has been appointed as a more sustainable alternative, due to its origins in biodegradable raw materials. This paper aims to review scientific research, where Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is performed on this material, in order to further understand the environmental impacts and to assess whether it is a more viable option when compared to the most commonly used plastics. A systematic literature review of 81 LCA studies focused on the LCA of PLA products was conducted. An assessment of key aspects, including the system boundaries, raw materials origin, and quantitative analysis of five environmental impact categories was performed. In this comparative analysis, in addition to presenting the results for PLA products, they are also compared with other fossil-based plastics. This leads to the conclusion that PLA has higher environmental impacts on Marine Eutrophication, Freshwater Eutrophication, and Human Toxicity, which are mainly related to the agricultural phase of growing the raw materials for PLA production. For Climate Change, Polystyrene (PS) presents the higher Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, and for the Ozone Layer Depletion category, Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) presents the higher impact. PLA is a solution to replace fossil plastics. However, the use of alternative biomass sources without competition with the feed and food sector could be a key option for biobased materials production, with lower environmental and socioeconomic impacts. This will be a pathway to reduce environmental impacts in categories such as climate change, marine eutrophication, and freshwater eutrophication.
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This review summarizes existing research on "biodegradable" PLA microplastics in soil and water environments. Studies found PLA microplastics can change soil nutrient cycling, microbial communities, and plant and animal health, sometimes differing from conventional plastics in these effects. The review notes long-term impacts remain unclear and calls for further comparative research.
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Researchers reviewed polylactic acid (PLA), a popular plant-based "biodegradable" plastic used in packaging and agriculture, finding that while it breaks down inside the body, it does not fully degrade under natural outdoor or aquatic conditions — and in fact fragments into microplastics faster than conventional petroleum-based plastics. This challenges the assumption that bioplastics are a straightforward environmental solution.
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