What is the life-cycle approach and how can it help tackle plastic pollution?

Plastic products often need chemicals added to them to give them functionality. Some of these are harmful chemicals and may enter the environment or human bodies depending on the production practices, use, and disposal. As a result, there is a risk of pollution to the soil, groundwater, and marine environment and harm to human health. The production of plastic is also responsible for more than 3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to the climate crisis. This all makes plastic pollution a driver of the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. 

When people talk about the life cycle of plastic, what do they mean?

Experts refer to the extraction of raw materials, their conversion into products, and the use and disposal of a product as its life cycle. In the case of plastic, the story usually begins in the ground. For most of the plastic that is fossil fuel-based, oil and gas are extracted from the earth and sent to refineries. There, they are transformed into plastic polymers, which are then molded into products from water bottles and other single-use packaging material—including containers for food and beverage commodities—to fishing gear and products for use in agriculture or in transportation. After they have served their purpose, such products usually find their way to one of three places: a landfill (although often an uncontrolled dumpsite), an incinerator, and a recycling or reuse centre.

What is the life-cycle approach to plastic pollution?

The life-cycle approach looks to limit the potential problems caused by plastic products at every stage of their life, from their production to their disposal. UNEP research has found there are dozens of things that governments and businesses can do to accomplish that goal. 

For example, countries could ban or restrict single-use plastic products or incentivize the development of plastic alternatives. Governments could provide the necessary regulation to send the signal to manufacturers to reduce and eliminate single-use plastic products, and change the product design to ensure plastic products are made of reusable materials, prolong their useful life, and can be recycled at the end of their use. This means having plastic products designed to reduce environmental and human exposure to harmful chemicals across the life cycle of these products.  

Since the plastics sector depends on legions of people around the world, including millions of informal waste pickers, the life-cycle approach also aims to balance socio-economic needs with concerns over plastic pollution.    

Why is the life-cycle approach important?

Plastic is deeply embedded in our lives and our economies – and plastic pollution continues to mount. Research shows the life-cycle approach could save governments US$70 billion in waste management expenses, and save society US$4.5 trillion in social and environmental costs by 2040. It could also massively reduce the volume of plastics entering the ocean. 

These benefits could be achieved by using the life-cycle approach to inform common design standards, create market incentives and disincentives, and expand reuse schemes, among other things.

Why can’t we solve plastic pollution with recycling?

Recycling is important but it alone isn’t enough to end the plastic pollution crisis. For a start, close to 80 percent of the plastic in single-use plastic products is not economically viable to recycle. This can be due to design decisions for a plastic product, such as the type of polymer used, and absence of adequate recycling infrastructure, the use of color additives and combination of materials in a single product, or the use of additives that if harmful, can also pose a health threat to workers in waste management and recycling. 

Additionally, more than 2.7 billion people do not have access to solid waste collection and scaling up recycling infrastructure is challenging.