
Constance Ißbrücker, Head of Environmental Affairs at European Bioplastics e.V.
The EU Plastics Strategy presented a vision where innovative materials and alternative feedstocks would ultimately replace fossil resources. In this context, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) was tasked in 2018 by the European Commission to elaborate an appropriate life cycle assessment (LCA)-based method to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of plastic products from different feedstocks. The resulting JRC “Plastics LCA method”, published in summer 2021, however, turned out to be highly problematic and biased, making it impossible to carry out an adequate and balanced evaluation of bio-based and fossil-based plastics.
The LCA methodology is structurally flawed, it lacks a basic understanding of the innovative character of bio-based plastics, and undermines the key advantages of these products. In its current form, the method even strengthens the overwhelming dominance of fossil-based plastics and neglects the negative impacts of the extraction of fossil resources on climate and environment. This is grossly at odds with the EU’s commitment towards reducing the dependency on fossil-carbon and becoming climate neutral. The methodology also undermines many of the targets set out in the EU Green Deal and Plastics Strategy.