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Is plastic sustainable?

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Is plastic sustainable?

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Without plastics, substantially more energy would be consumed and more greenhouse gases would also be emitted. This was the conclusion drawn by a current study which was commissioned by PlasticsEurope to seek an answer to the question: Are plastics sustainable?

In comparison with other materials in Europe, plastics still suffer from a rather bad image with regards to environmental aspects and the consumption of resources. Owing to a study that was commissioned by the association of plastics manufacturers called PlasticsEurope e.V., Denkstatt-GmbH studied the actual effects of typical plastics products during their entire life cycle through its study entitled "The Effects of Plastics upon Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Europe". The study focuses upon the effects upon energy consumption and climate change.

Positive contribution of fossil plastics

With regards to the examples of plastic products which were examined in more detail, they concern exclusively plastics which are produced from fossil energy sources even if the role of renewable resources is becoming more and more important in the plastics industry. According to PlasticsEurope, the goal of the study was first and foremost to document that the use of fossil plastics also makes a positive contribution to the goals of energy efficiency and climate protection.

The first part of the study updates a previous study from the years 2004/2005. In this case, the overall market of substitutable plastic products is compared with the mix of alternative materials. The second part deals with the beneficial effects of plastics with regards to the improvement of energy efficiency and climate protection now and in the future and, as the introduction states, to place "Things in the Right Light".

When manufacturing plastic products, energy resources are used which largely are from non-renewable sources whose consumption causes the release of greenhouse gases. However - based upon the results of the study - even more CO2 emissions would be created if plastic products were replaced by alternative materials.

Using plastics - saving resources

The results showed that the energy that is required for the production, use, exploitation and disposal of plastics within Europe is currently approx. 4,300 million gigajoule per year while the overall emissions of greenhouse gases is approx. 200 million tons per year.

The study has come to the conclusion that plastic products above all contribute to the saving of energy and the reduction of greenhouse gases to such an extent that they have replaced traditional materials. Both energy consumption as well as also the quantity of greenhouse gases emitted would substantially increase if plastic products should be replaced by other materials up to a theoretical maximum. For example, Denkstatt had calculated that if the substitution of plastics throughout Europe increased energy consumption by approx. 2,100 gigajoule, the quantity of greenhouse gases emitted would increase by 110 million tons of CO2 equivalents. Denkstatt still sees a lot of potential for plastics in the future: Thus, in the year 2020, the estimated usage advantages could be nine to fifteen times higher than the emissions from production and waste management. The estimated energy savings would naturally vary based upon the sphere of application whereby packaging would naturally play a more important role.

Example of foodstuff packaging

An important ramification is also the losses avoided through the use of plastic products, e.g. of foodstuffs through protective packaging. Thus, plastic packaging frequently prevents fresh foodstuffs from spoiling too fast. The foodstuff losses thus avoided likewise mean less energy consumption and greenhouse gases which would be associated with the production of new foodstuffs. According to the study, an estimate has shown that the CO2 benefits of foodstuff losses that are avoided are four to nine times higher-in the scope of 10 to 20 percent of the product mass-than the CO2 emissions which are created during the production of the packaging. The beneficial effects would have a much larger influence upon the greenhouse gas emissions than the production of the packaging for this sphere of application.

If one assumes that 70 percent of all foodstuff packaging - thus also from other materials – prevents the loss of 20 percent of the packaged foodstuffs and that the same CO2 ratio exists for the manufacturing of packaging and production of foodstuffs as in the aforementioned examples, then the corresponding CO2 benefit for foodstuff packaging from plastic is estimated to be 190 million tons of CO2 emissions, it further states. By preventing the aforementioned approx. ten percent loss of foodstuffs, another 22 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions could be avoided according to the estimates from the study.

The complete study is available for download at www.plasticseurope.org.
- www.plasticseurope.org