Project summary

~30% of global atmospheric carbon is transferred from the atmosphere to marine organisms and plants, to the deep sea where it is sequestered for hundreds to thousands of years (the marine carbon cycle) - one of earth’s critical life support systems. Plankton are the foot soldiers in this system transporting carbon through their sinking faecal pellets, marine snow, and phytoplankton detritus. Plastics pollution has been entering marine environments for decades where it breaks down into microplastics. New research has demonstrated that when plankton ingest microplastics, their faecal pellets are prevented from sinking, potentially disrupting this critical life support system. We want to stop this plastic pollution at source - procurement decisions made by businesses based on inaccurate, outdated and misleading LCAs. Our team will incorporate cutting edge marine research into novel new LCA models to reflect the true cost of plastics, allowing industry to make evidence-based decisions.

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

• Conduct a literature review on impact of microplastics on marine carbon cycle and synthesis of findings. 

• Conversion of marine carbon cycle results into impact assessment model and incorporation into LCA database.

• Run baseline LCA pre-research and re-run LCA post research to measure change in impact attributed to plastic packaging when accounting for marine impact.

• Write and publish scientific article for peer review.

• Incorporation of project results into wider MARILCA work on LCAs.

• Communication of results to target audience (large business partners and procurement decision makers) through comms campaign.

We see the possibility that our use of plastic is disrupting a natural system which sequesters ~30% of atmospheric carbon as a potentially catastrophic risk, justifying at a minimum further research to better understand the issue and raise awareness of the risks to key target audiences. This project builds on early research conducted by project partners Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Marine Impacts in LCAs (Marilca) and other organisations such as the British Antarctic Survey. 

The aim is to persuade industry decision makers (in production and procurement of plastic products) to transition away from fossil-plastic packaging and towards natural packaging based on accurate environmental impact evidence provided through updated, comprehensive, accurate LCAs. We see this as the only way to effect large-scale change in a short period of time. The alternatives to plastic packaging already exist but the market price is higher than fossil plastics because the market price doesn’t account for the negative externalities.

By project end, we will have demonstrated that new marine impact data (on the marine carbon cycle) can be accurately incorporated into LCAs to provide a true cost of plastic. We will have trialled communicating this information to key industry decision-makers to raise awareness and affect decision-making. We will have defined next steps for further areas of research and improvement of impact assessment as well as need to effect behaviour change.

How will this funding be used?

The requested budget will cover part of the costs for a 1 year research project involving Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) and CIRAIG/MARILCA (Marine Impacts in Life Cycle Assessment).

MARILCA - LCA and Impact Assessment Research

1 x PHD Student - 100% FTE - 6 months - $15,000

Costs for 3 month placement at PML in the UK including visa, accommodation and subsistence and travel - $10,000

Total: $25,000

Plymouth Marine Lab - Marine Microplastic Research

2 x Senior Researchers working at 25% FTE for 3 months on marine carbon cycle research, literature review and synthesis - $25,000

Total: $50,000

Higher Funding Goal: The project will be a minimum of 1 year and so the higher goal of $100,000 will enable the team to continue their work for the full 12 months, whereas the minimum funding covers the first 6 months only.

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML)

The term microplastics was coined by an academic at the University of Plymouth and the team at PML were the first to uncover the effect of microplastics on plankton almost 10 years ago. The team have led and published numerous studies on the impacts of microplastics in the marine environment.

CIRAIG/MARILCA (Marine Impacts in Life Cycle Assessment)

The leading experts in incorporating impact data into LCAs to demonstrate true impact, beyond simplified carbon footprint figures. Their research was the first to expand the remit of LCAs to look beyond carbon footprint alone and to account for wider environmental impacts, key missing elements from LCAs. their work has been included in key UN Environmental Programme reports.

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

The literature review may be too narrow or broad to provide sufficient data for the development of an accurate impact assessment model. The research may fail to show any meaningful change in the LCA results after incorporation of the impact assessment data. It may be too challenging to attribute the results to specific plastic types (e.g. PP, PE) and therefore packaging types. The results may not be persuasive enough to affect meaningful change in industry decision-makers about which types of plastics they choose to procure and utilise.

How much money have you raised in the last 12 months, and from where?

We have not yet raised any funding for this project.