Ocean plastic pollution is a highly visible consequence of the plastic crisis, yet it’s far from the only one. The often-hidden impacts of plastic throughout production, use, and disposal have just as dire impacts on our climate, our environment, and our health. Understanding these impacts is the first step to addressing them.

The narrow approaches to assessing and addressing plastic impacts to date are inadequate and inappropriate. Making informed decisions that address plastic risks demands a full lifecycle approach to understand the full scope of its toxic impacts. It is also required to ensure that yet more and increasingly complex environmental problems are not created in the attempt to address this one.

CIEL investigates and exposes these impacts through every stage of plastic’s lifecycle — from oil extraction, to petrochemical production, to our use of plastic products, to waste and recycling, to incineration and disposal. In particular, CIEL has brought together disparate research on all stages of the plastic lifecycle to provide a full assessment of the array of impacts of plastic on human health and on the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.