The Plastic Leak Project, led by Quantis and EA in partnership with 35 public, private and scientific organizations, has released a methodology to conduct plastic leakage assessments. For the first time, businesses have a standardized, science-driven way to map, measure and forecast plastic (including microplastic) leakage across their value chains. These guidelines empower companies to translate their commitments to tackle plastic pollution into meaningful, metrics-based strategies and actions to reduce plastic leakage and mitigate business risks. Developed through a year-long multi-stakeholder collaboration, this methodology fills a critical gap in science-driven solutions to urgently address plastic pollution. The Institute of Sustainability in Civil Engineering is a Member of the Advisory Board.

The main goals are:

• • Plastic footprint at company level to support the LCA approach (LCI phase)
  • Potential amount of macro- and microplastics that escape the circular loop or are not properly managed at their end-of-life, and thus leak into the environment.
  • Important for companies to locate hotspots
  • Support of decision making in plastics strategies, defining priorities, improve product ecodesign efforts, track progress and communicate credibly about the environmental performance of products and the business as a whole.

Project partners: Quantis and EA

Published: February 2020

Contact:
Dr. -Ing. Rose Nangah Mankaa
E-Mail: rose.mankaa@inab.rwth-aachen.de
Tel.: +49 241 80 227 63