The optimization-based pathway analysis in this study provides insights into evaluating the impact of imposed carbon price on the plastic production pathways. The framework can manage the complex interdependencies of various technologies and allow us to have a comprehensive assessment on the environmental and economic trade-off in the plastic industry. Additionally, it can provide guidance about developing an effective decision-making methodology for the industry to determine the plastic production pathway. The preliminary analysis in this study suggests that imposing the carbon price could cause the transition of plastic production from fossil fuels to biomass as feedstocks, resulting in lower GHG emissions and less dependence on fossil fuels. However, the increased use of biomass could bring about other environmental problems, such as increased land use and eutrophication. It is thus crucial for decision-makers to consider all potential environmental consequences as the carbon pricing system is introduced to the system. Overall, the proposed framework can be used for evaluating and optimizing production pathways from both economic and environmental perspectives, supporting the development of sustainable strategies for reducing the carbon footprints of plastic production. Future research can be toward including more details (such as logistics, geographical variation of carbon pricing system, or more potentially feasible technologies) into the system to have a more holistic analysis on the impact of carbon price in the plastic industry.