Plastic and Climate Change: What’s the Connection?
It’s 2022, and we’ve all seen images of food containers piling up in landfills and heard the calls to keep straws out of the oceans. But while it seems obvious that plastic creates a lot of waste, there is not as much coverage on another one of its impacts: its contribution to climate change.
The truth is, plastic is actually derived from fossil fuels, and those same take-out containers that end up in landfills also release planet-warming greenhouse gasses as they are created and disposed of. Here’s how plastics contribute to climate change - and how we can reduce these greenhouse gas emissions.
Extracting the material
The first emissions in the life of a plastic cup come from extracting the material which will eventually become plastic - fossil fuels. To drill for oil or gas, companies use energy, which leads to emissions. For example, methane, a strong greenhouse gas, is released. As a result, in 2015, the emissions from fossil fuel extraction and transport was between 9.5 and 10.5 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year.
Creating the plastic
The next stage of the plastic life cycle is manufacturing. This process requires a substantial amount of energy, and thus, emissions. In fact, a study of just 24 plastic production facilities found that these sites produced 17.5 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent in 2015 - and there are currently 300 new and expanded petrochemical projects being built in the US.
Throwing away the plastic
Finally, after plastic is used and thrown away, it usually ends up in a few different places: landfills, recycling, incineration, or the environment. Landfilling and recycling have relatively lower emissions; however, plastic incineration releases multiple potent chemicals, including black carbon, which is five thousand times more potent than carbon dioxide. Therefore, incineration releases a substantial amount of greenhouse gasses and is the main source of emissions from plastic waste, producing 5.9 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year.
Another impact of plastic is that which ends up in the environment. When plastics end up in the ocean, they release the strong gasses methane and ethylene as they break down. Also, once the plastic breaks down into microplastic, it interferes with the ability of marine organisms like plankton to absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen.
Reducing emissions
To put it mildly, plastics are not a friend of the planet. But how can our society meaningfully reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from plastics? A key solution is fostering a circular economy, from ending reliance on single-use plastic, to emphasizing zero-waste in general. And reuse is a key part of this: using the same containers over and over again substantially reduces the resources used to create the containers, and the emissions released after the container is thrown away.
At USEFULL, we are doing our part to reduce these emissions by creating a reusable, stainless steel takeout cup and container system that shifts away from plastic entirely. In fact, according to an Upstream life cycle assessment study, a reusable stainless steel cup used 300 times creates 166 times less carbon pollution than single-use plastic cups.
If you are interested in seeing how USEFULL containers and cups could help your business, campus, or restaurant reduce its emissions, feel free to connect with us or learn more about our system.
By Karlie Hayes, Marketing Strategy Intern, karlie@usefull.us