In single-use plastics, the issue is single-use, not plastic : Keynote

Although plastic seems to have become the icon for “environmental evil,” a comprehensive and scientific view on the issue and the alternatives is seldom provided. Life Cycle Assessment has historically provided such holistic view by encompassing the entire lifecycle of a product and a comprehensive set of environmental indicators. However, the more recent attention on plastic litter in the environment, particularly the marine ecosystems, had not yet been integrated into the LCA methodology. Decisions have thus been made based on a plastic-reduction focus, without considering the potential impacts of the alternatives that would fill the function left unfilled by the plastic reduction.

The complex and inter-related issues of plastic sustainability can now start to be disentangled and put into perspective — with each other and with the alternatives — with an objective and scientific basis using life-cycle assessment.