It is estimated that the pollution of the plastic industry in the United States will exceed that of coal in 2030

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A new report predicts that by the end of this century, the greenhouse gas emissions of the U.S. plastics industry will exceed those of coal. Judith Enck, chairman of beyond plastics and former regional director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said in the report: “unlike the plastic waste that strangles our waterways and litters, the destructive impact of the plastic industry on our climate occurs under radar, with little public supervision and less government accountability.”

Data map

Plastics are a huge but often neglected source of carbon pollution. According to a report by Bennington College and beyond plastics, a non-profit organization, U.S. production produces at least 232 million metric tons of greenhouse gases. If 42 factories currently planned or under construction are put into use, it is expected that another 55 million tons will be discharged from plastic production by 2025.

Last year, coal-fired power in the United States generated 786 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is expected to decline as coal-fired power plants compete with natural gas, solar and wind energy. Between 2019 and 2020, carbon pollution attributable to coal decreased by 166 million tons. With the continuous decline of coal and the rise of plastics, the two lines will inevitably cross.

Today, carbon pollution in other parts of the economy exceeds plastic pollution. However, with the decarbonization of other sectors, the continuous emission growth of the industry undermines the goal of achieving net zero carbon pollution by 2050 proposed by President Joe Biden.

Multiple sources

A large part of the carbon pollution of plastics comes from the gas used in fracturing and transportation production. One is methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that warms the atmosphere 86 times more than the same amount of carbon dioxide in 20 years. According to the report, 36 million tons of carbon pollution was caused by leakage at the wellhead and pipeline. Other parts of natural gas, such as ethane, are used as raw materials, and cracking them produces another 70 million tons. Other plastic raw materials such as coal and ammonia produced another 28 million tons.

When plastics reach the end of their life, pollution continues. Burning plastic waste is responsible for 15 million tons of carbon pollution. The report says that even the so-called “chemical recycling”, which usually uses high heat to melt plastics into parts, will increase by 18 million tons by 2025.

However, the plastics industry association said that the report ignored some of the benefits of plastics, which can offset some production-related pollution. “Compared with alternatives, plastics are lighter, more durable and can reduce the overall weight of products. Lighter products require less fuel to transport,” a spokesman told E & E news. “If plastic packaging is replaced with other materials, waste and energy consumption will double, and weight and cost will increase fourfold.” American Chemistry Council It is a trade association of American Chemical Company, which says that the carbon footprint of alternatives to plastic packaging will be 2.7 times larger.

The results of the new report are consistent with the previous efforts of the center for international environmental law, which found that by 2050, the global carbon pollution caused by plastics may reach 2.5 billion metric tons, more than twice as much as now.

Plastic production facilities are also often concentrated near communities, which bear the brunt of pollution. “More than 90% of the climate pollution reported by the plastics industry to the EPA occurs in 18 communities, mainly along the coastlines of Texas and Louisiana. The income of people living within three miles of these petrochemical industry clusters is 28% lower than the average level of American families, and people of color are 67%.”

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