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Environmental impact assessment

Pathways to sustainable plastics

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Our current use of plastics is the epitome of an unsustainable lifestyle with their reliance on fossil resources and their widespread application through single use products that, after use, end up in the natural environment. A study now analyses what it would take for plastics to become a sustainable material.

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Fig. 1: A sustainable future production and use of plastics must respect the planetary boundaries.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Absolute Sustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark

    Michael Zwicky Hauschild & Anders Bjørn

  2. Section for Quantitative Sustainability Assessment, Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark

    Michael Zwicky Hauschild & Anders Bjørn

Authors
  1. Michael Zwicky Hauschild
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  2. Anders Bjørn
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Correspondence to Michael Zwicky Hauschild.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Hauschild, M.Z., Bjørn, A. Pathways to sustainable plastics. Nat Sustain 6, 487–488 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01069-w

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