Impacts of plastics in the environment

塑料垃圾通过摄入或缠绕影响物种/生态系统，并可能通过摄入或吸入影响人类健康。环境决策者已经开始采取行动来解决这个问题，然而，生命周期评估（LCA），一个常用的工具，以帮助环境决策，还没有考虑到塑料垃圾的后果。这就限制了生命周期评估的应用，因为无法适当评估措施（例如禁止或替代措施）的潜在环境效益，并可能对生态系统和人类健康产生不利影响。该研究计划的主要目标是开发新的模型，将塑料垃圾的影响纳入LCA。

Plastic litter affects species/ecosystems through ingestion or entanglement and potentially human health through ingestion or inhalation. Environmental decision makers have started to take action to address this issue, however, life cycle assessment (LCA), a tool commonly used to assist environmental decision making, does not yet factor in the consequences of plastic litter. This limits the application of LCA, since potential environmental benefits of measures (e.g. bans or substitution) cannot be properly assessed and could lead to adverse effects on ecosystems and human health. The main objective of this research program is to develop new models to include the impacts of plastic litter in LCA.