Increased production of plastics will emit more greenhouse gases that are more severe than the emissions from coal-fired power plants.
This will undermine efforts worldwide to address the impacts of climate change. The report, submitted by Bennington College and Beyond Plastics, projects that the plastics industry releases at least 232 million tonnes of greenhouse gases each year throughout its life cycle.
This figure is an accumulation of oil and gas drilling processes for fuel facilities, to the burning of plastic waste. Imagine, this production process, as quoted from India Today, Sunday (24/10/2021) is equivalent to 116 coal-fired power plants.
"The scale of the plastics industry's greenhouse gas emissions is astonishing, but also worrying because few people in government or the business community talk about it," said Judith Enck, former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and president of Beyond Plastics.
Also, the report found that petrochemical facilities tend to only congregate in 18 low-income and minority communities, where 90% of the pollution occurs.
"With at least dozens of new plastics production plants being built, the emissions generated from plastic production will make efforts to gradually stop dependence on coal power plants and switch to renewable energy futile," said Enck.
Enck said the report was based on data from federal agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Commerce Department, which is based on plastic industry reporting. He acknowledged that plastic is light and durable, but added that industry calculations ignore other factors that increase emissions.
