(46f) Plastic Waste Prevention: Environmental Impact Assessment of Advanced Circular Solutions As a Substitute for Single-Use Virgin Plastic Materials

Single-use plastic materials pose a significant threat to the environment due to their resource depletion and contributing to plastic pollution. The problem of plastic waste should be addressed not only through elimination and treatment of existing waste, but also with advanced litter prevention measures and the development of circular alternatives. Such measures are being undertaken as part of the Horizon EU Mission project INSPIRE (Innovative Solutions for Plastic Free European Rivers), which is proposing new sustainable alternatives for widely used products and depicting their benefits by comparing them to existing conventional products. The emergence of advanced circular solutions as a plastic prevention measure has shown to be a promising path forward in minimizing waste. However, there is a need for quantification of impacts of the impact such solutions make towards sustainability, where the three pillars of environmental, economic, and social sustainability should all be considered.

One of the key sectors producing single-use plastic waste worldwide is tourism. The spread of plastic pollution in heavily visited areas during the tourist season shows an urgent need for scalable solutions to be widely adopted, which could drive behavioral change and promote sustainable alternatives among consumers. The solution proposed in this study is a plastic-free shampoo formulation, which can substitute conventional shampoo packaged in plastic bottles. The analysis focuses on evaluating the environmental benefits of adopting this alternative on a large scale, considering a case study of a tourist group within a camp using the sustainable shampoo solution.

To assess the environmental implications, the study applies the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology, considering various stages from raw material extraction to product disposal. Two scenarios are compared: one where the tourists use conventional shampoo packaged in single-use plastic bottles, and another where they use plastic-free shampoo products, produced as natural water-free powder formulations packaged in paper material. The circular solution is a shampoo that does not contain plastic particles or water, ensuring that fewer natural resources are used for its production. The analysis is based on the functional unit of one wash of average length hair for a person in Europe, which requires a 30 mL bottle of liquid shampoo in the conventional case and a 3.5 g package of sustainable shampoo powder in the alternative case. This unit is used to compare the two products based on their material demands for the shampoo as well as its packaging.

The results regarding the case of shampoo use show that adopting plastic-free shampoo formulations significantly reduces environmental burdens compared to conventional shampoo packaged in plastic bottles. The sustainability of the water-free formulations coupled with paper packaging materials minimizes resource depletion and energy use, thereby reducing environmental impacts. The global warming potential, evaluated as one of the impact categories, exemplifies the benefits of the circular solution, showing a reduction from 1,726.1 kg CO₂ eq. to 144.9 kg CO₂ eq., or by 92 % when considering the hair washing needs of the entire tourist camp. As the conventional liquid shampoo requires additional raw materials such as emulsifiers, fillers, foam stabilizers, and moisturizers, the benefits of reducing the need for these materials is clearly shown by the impact category results. The most signifcant reductions in environmental impacts are caused by the reduced demand for electricity consumption during both the formulation mixing and packaging processes. The research therefore points at the importance of transitioning from linear consumption models reliant on single-use plastics to circular solutions and highlights the potential for behavioral shifts among consumers towards more sustainable choices, fostering the principles of a circular economy in everyday life.