Environmental attributes of bioplastics

Recruiting now!

Applicants with skills/experience in environmental studies, product life cycle assessment (LCA), water quality impacts, environmental engineering are welcome to apply.

Academic Lead: Dr Marguerite Renouf

Queensland University of Technology

Being able to quantify the environmental attributes of bioplastics will be important for testing and verifying the sustainability of new bioplastics products and production pathways in an increasingly aware consumer market. Environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) is the recognised method for doing this, but metrics that capture the desired attributes of bioplastics are current missing.

This project will investigate new metrics and life cycle impact assessment methods for representing resource circularity and impacts of plastic waste in the environment alongside the tradition suite of environmental impact categories. It will enable the environmental benefits of bioplastics over conventional plastics to be better discerned in environmental product declarations and product labelling / certification.