27/02/2020
The Plastic Leak Project (launched in 2019), led by Quantis and EA in partnership with 35 public, private and scientific organizations, has released a methodology to conduct plastic leakage assessments.

Table of Contents

Press Release (02/27/2020)

  • About Quantis: A sustainability consulting group.
  • About EA: EA is an ecodesign centre based in Switzerland (www.shaping-ea.com), member of the European Network of Ecodesign Centres (ENEC). Founded by Julien Boucher, also co-founder of Quantis, EA has developed a unique expertise in the field of marine plastic pollution and plastic footprinting.
  • 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.
  • A powerful methodology for driving meaningful action.

Methodological Guidelines (05/2020, V1.3)

  • Plastics enter the environment by one of two core streams: visible macroplastics mainly from mismanaged waste, and mostly invisible primary microplastics released from various sources, such as synthetic clothing during washing.
  • Exposure to an aquatic environment not only degrades macroplastics into
    secondary microplastics, but also fragments primary microplastics into even smaller particles through photodegradation and other weathering processes.
  • An overview of plastic leakage: 1. Coastal mismanaged (macro) plastic waste (MPW): 8 Mt/year (people living within 50 km of shore across 192 countries). 2. Inland mismanaged (macro) plastic waste: 1 Mt/year. 3. Microplastics: 1.5 Mt/year of plastic enters the marine environment in the form of primary microplastics (abrasion of synthetic textiles during washing (35%) and the erosion of tires while driving (28%)).

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3.1 What is leakage and how can it be modelled?

  • Leakage is a result of both loss and release through a transfer and redistribution pathway.

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3.7.2 Degradation of plastic

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3.9.3 Value chain perspective

  • Suppliers -> Own production -> Product use -> Product end-of-life -> Transport

4.3 System boundaries

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6.5.2 Calculation parameters

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Limitations – import/export of plastic waste

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Figure 6.6 2018 G7 countries’ exports of plastic, parings and scrap in metric tons, visualized in a Financial Times article based on the US Census Bureau, Japan e-Stat, Eurostat and Statistics Canada (Financial Times 2019)

  • UN Comtrade database covers plastic waste flows and could help to estimate the quantities of plastic imported and exported by country.