Welcome to our new webinar series, Beyond Carbon, where we widen the perspective from greenhouse gas emissions to a broader set of environmental and social impacts. This is episode 2 where we focus on microplastics.

The use of plastics has had an explosive growth over the past decades. This growth is showing no sign of slowing down, leading to a steady rise of microplastics in the environment. Microplastics pose a serious risk to earth’s ecosystems and human health due to their pervasiveness and persistence.

Today, much is known about the source of microplastics and where they end up, but their environmental impact is more of a blind spot. Assessing the effects of microplastics in a life cycle perspective has received a lot of scientific attention, making it possible to quantify its impacts. Researcher and advisor Anna Schwarz from CE Delft has several years of experience in modelling the impacts of microplastics.

The webinar contains a 30-minute presentation by researcher Anna Schwarz, covering the relevance, hurdles and opportunities of assessing microplastics in LCA, followed by 30 minutes of Q&A and discussions where you get to explore what the topic means in practice.

Presenter

Anna Schwarz works as a researcher and advisor at CE Delft. She has written her PhD thesis in 2024 on circularity and sustainability of plastics, including microplastic impact assessment in LCA and Material flow analysis at the Radboud University of Nijmegen and TNO. She has also worked on plastic pollution research in the ocean at The Ocean Cleanup.

More about the subject

Schwarz, A.E., Herlaar, S., Cohen, Q.M., Quik, J.T.K., Golkaram, M., Urbanus, J.H., van Emmerik, T.H.M., Huijbregts, M.A.J. (2024). Microplastic aquatic impacts included in Life Cycle Assessment. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 209, 107787.

Urbanus, J.H., Brunner, A., Boersma A., Henke, S., Kooter, I., Lensen, S., Parker, L., Schwarz, A., Imhof, P., Dortmans, A., Wijngaard, M. (2022). Microplastics are everywhere: 70% reduction achievable.

Schwarz, A.E., Lensen, S.M.C., Langeveld, E., Parker, L.A., Urbanus, J.H. (2023). Plastics in the global environment assessed through material flow analysis, degradation and environmental transportation. Science of The Total Environment, 875, 162644.

Pellengahr, F., Corella-Puertas, E., Mattelin, V., Saadi, N., Bertella, F., Boulay, A-M., van der Meer, Y. (2025) Modeling marine microplastic emissions in Life Cycle Assessment: characterization factors for biodegradable polymers and their application in a textile case study. Frontiers in Toxicology,  7, 1494220.

Brouwer, M.T.,  Post, W., van der Zee, M., Reilink, R., Boom, R., Maaskant, E. (2024). A predictive model to assess the accumulation of microplastics in the natural environment. Science of The Total Environment, 957, 177503.

This meeting is arranged within the project Innovation cluster for the life cycle perspective, funded by the Swedish Energy Agency and partners in Swedish Life Cycle Center.