A product's degradation rate is controlled by material and geometry (i.e., surface area). It should be standard practice for engineers to use topology optimization techniques and additive manufacturing to design and fabricate products that maximize surface area and thus minimize environmental lifetime. Such strategies have already begun to be applied to some single-use items (e.g., cutlery ) by redesigning them to remove structurally unnecessary material. Latticefilled or foamed structures also achieve this objective. In particular, foamed items may have added benefits by keeping them in conditions more favorable to degradation because of their positive buoyancy and, thus, exposure to sunlight. Addressing the plastic pollution crisis will This limited specificity in accreditation criteria is reflected in practice. For example, a review of 24 undergraduate material science and engineering programs (with or without ABET accreditation) across researchintensive universities (R1) in North America demonstrated that eco-design might only be taught within ~30% of material selection courses (Data S1). Thus, ~70% of engineers may enter the workforce without receiving mandatory curricular instruction on the environmental impact of materials and their tradeoffs. Incorporating our novel metric and others (e.g., for microplastic formation ) into material selection and design courses thus represents an opportunity to train the next generation of engineers about eco-design and close the sustainability gap in materials education. Local communities have already begun regulating single-use plastic products (e.g., bans on straws, grocery bags, and bottles). Yet often, consumers are without recommendations for products made from alternative materials. Like product designers, consumers need strategies for making the "best" material selection choices for the environment. We recommend implementing a simple, quantitative persistence label for plastic products that can complement existing eco-labels (e.g., Energy Star) to inform consumers about the persistence of plastic materials in the environment.