Post by account_disabled on Mar 4, 2024 0:38:06 GMT -6
Remember the National Geographic photo of the bag iceberg? According to GreenBiz not long ago, the world seemed determined to put an end to what was wrapped in plastic: there was outrage over straws, containers and all types of containers, as well as the industry that produced them.
We are concerned about the fate of marine species, in particular, turtles, after a video went viral showing the damage that plastic waste caused to one. This led many to treat straws as nuclear agents.
A constant war against plastics
Consumer brands committed to plans to, at some Chile Mobile Number List point in the future, end their use of said fossil derivative. In many cases, making their packaging recyclable or compostable, without taking into account the global infrastructure that is totally inadequate for this.
All of this inevitably generated a cultural war that led some American politicians to ban plastic straws, as an expression of “freedom.” It was a war on plastic that, at the time, seemed like it could curb environmental excesses.
That was in 2018, today, that awareness has largely disappeared from public attention, but the problem has not, on the contrary, its impact has increased.
Concerns about sanitation and public health have given new life to single-use plastics and ended some jurisdictional bans on disposable packaging. Global sales of these products have increased, providing a growing profit center for beleaguered oil and gas companies, which were seeing demand for their main fuels stagnate.
But that respite from public attention may be short-lived: The climate crisis represents a new battle in the war on plastics. It may lack shocking graphics full of animal suffering or the Facebook cachet for not using straws, but it's arguably a more powerful foothold for advocates and activists.
war against plastics recycling
Most companies—from polymer producers to consumer brands to retailers—are ill-prepared for what is likely to come. According to a report published last fall by a group called Beyond Plastics, it warns that “the US plastics industry's contribution to climate change will exceed that of coal energy by 2030.”
In addition, dozens of plants that have recently opened are cited, some that are under construction or in the process of obtaining permits.
If fully operational, these new plastic plants could release an additional 55 million tons of greenhouse gases, the equivalent of another 27 medium-sized coal plants.
Plastics are the new carbon
Other groups have been stepping up efforts to link plastics and climate. Already in 2019, for example, the Center for International Environmental Law, the Environmental Integrity Project, the FracTracker Alliance and others noted that:
Plans by the plastics and petrochemical industries to expand plastic production threaten to exacerbate the climate impacts of plastic and could make it impossible to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Sustainability policy expert Holly Kaufman explicitly pointed out this relationship in 2020. Therefore, it is worth noting that carbon emissions are found throughout the life cycle of plastics, starting with hydraulic fracturing, which produces natural gas, the base of most of these, and by “cracking”, which converts the gas into ethylene, a key precursor for the production of this material.
Emissions are also generated by the transportation and processing of plastics to create other resources. Added to this, there are more emissions at the back end, including a number of carbon-intensive waste management processes, such as incineration and so-called chemical or “advanced” recycling, which can convert plastic into raw materials to make more. derivatives.
It doesn't end there: waste dumped into the sea emits methane when exposed to sunlight. Microplastics can undermine the ocean's resilience to climate change, among other things, because they alter the carbon stored in marine and coastal ecosystems.
in the smoke
And let's not talk about the emissions from open burning, a common method of plastic disposal around the world, which makes all those embedded petrochemicals go up in smoke.
Although it is true that plastic has climate advantages, from lightening loads in the supply chain, reducing emissions due to mobility, to protecting food against spoilage, which could offset some of its impact. .
This will be the war against plastics in 2022
And let's not talk about the emissions from open burning, a common plastic disposal method in the developing world, which sends all those embodied petrochemicals up into smoke.
However, environmental advocacy groups are likely to stoke the connection between plastics and the climate, two issues that until now have been considered separate. As the links become better understood, pressure could be directed at the same brands that, less than three years ago, pledged to end plastic waste but not use.
Now is not the time to be distracted by the convenient truth of plastic pollution, as the relatively minor threats it poses are dwarfed by the global systemic threats of climate change.
British professors in Marine Policy magazine in 2019.
Actors in the war against plastics
Those who will increase efforts in the war on plastics are concerned that companies and governments will use the issue to distract from the climate emergency.
Meanwhile, policymakers seem not to see the bigger picture. The word plastic does not appear in the text of the 2015 Paris Agreement or in the most recent Glasgow Climate Pact. United Nations-sponsored talks, soon to be held in Nairobi, will draft a global plastics treaty that appears to avoid including climate change in the picture.
Can the gaze of groups focused on plastic waste, toxicity, marine pollution, climate change, public health, water pollution, environmental justice, beach cleanups and other issues come together? It will not be easy.
plastic war actors
It may not be necessary. Given the increasing attention paid to zero emissions commitments and Scope 3 supply chain responsibility, as well as growing investor concerns about risks associated with climate change, waste disposal, toxicity and other ESG issues , all of this could change in the blink of an eye.
Companies may be forced to take stock – and take responsibility – for the upstream and downstream climate impacts of the materials they source. This, in turn, could lead to legislation, litigation, consumer boycotts and much more, a scenario where brands will once again be affected.
We are concerned about the fate of marine species, in particular, turtles, after a video went viral showing the damage that plastic waste caused to one. This led many to treat straws as nuclear agents.
A constant war against plastics
Consumer brands committed to plans to, at some Chile Mobile Number List point in the future, end their use of said fossil derivative. In many cases, making their packaging recyclable or compostable, without taking into account the global infrastructure that is totally inadequate for this.
All of this inevitably generated a cultural war that led some American politicians to ban plastic straws, as an expression of “freedom.” It was a war on plastic that, at the time, seemed like it could curb environmental excesses.
That was in 2018, today, that awareness has largely disappeared from public attention, but the problem has not, on the contrary, its impact has increased.
Concerns about sanitation and public health have given new life to single-use plastics and ended some jurisdictional bans on disposable packaging. Global sales of these products have increased, providing a growing profit center for beleaguered oil and gas companies, which were seeing demand for their main fuels stagnate.
But that respite from public attention may be short-lived: The climate crisis represents a new battle in the war on plastics. It may lack shocking graphics full of animal suffering or the Facebook cachet for not using straws, but it's arguably a more powerful foothold for advocates and activists.
war against plastics recycling
Most companies—from polymer producers to consumer brands to retailers—are ill-prepared for what is likely to come. According to a report published last fall by a group called Beyond Plastics, it warns that “the US plastics industry's contribution to climate change will exceed that of coal energy by 2030.”
In addition, dozens of plants that have recently opened are cited, some that are under construction or in the process of obtaining permits.
If fully operational, these new plastic plants could release an additional 55 million tons of greenhouse gases, the equivalent of another 27 medium-sized coal plants.
Plastics are the new carbon
Other groups have been stepping up efforts to link plastics and climate. Already in 2019, for example, the Center for International Environmental Law, the Environmental Integrity Project, the FracTracker Alliance and others noted that:
Plans by the plastics and petrochemical industries to expand plastic production threaten to exacerbate the climate impacts of plastic and could make it impossible to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Sustainability policy expert Holly Kaufman explicitly pointed out this relationship in 2020. Therefore, it is worth noting that carbon emissions are found throughout the life cycle of plastics, starting with hydraulic fracturing, which produces natural gas, the base of most of these, and by “cracking”, which converts the gas into ethylene, a key precursor for the production of this material.
Emissions are also generated by the transportation and processing of plastics to create other resources. Added to this, there are more emissions at the back end, including a number of carbon-intensive waste management processes, such as incineration and so-called chemical or “advanced” recycling, which can convert plastic into raw materials to make more. derivatives.
It doesn't end there: waste dumped into the sea emits methane when exposed to sunlight. Microplastics can undermine the ocean's resilience to climate change, among other things, because they alter the carbon stored in marine and coastal ecosystems.
in the smoke
And let's not talk about the emissions from open burning, a common method of plastic disposal around the world, which makes all those embedded petrochemicals go up in smoke.
Although it is true that plastic has climate advantages, from lightening loads in the supply chain, reducing emissions due to mobility, to protecting food against spoilage, which could offset some of its impact. .
This will be the war against plastics in 2022
And let's not talk about the emissions from open burning, a common plastic disposal method in the developing world, which sends all those embodied petrochemicals up into smoke.
However, environmental advocacy groups are likely to stoke the connection between plastics and the climate, two issues that until now have been considered separate. As the links become better understood, pressure could be directed at the same brands that, less than three years ago, pledged to end plastic waste but not use.
Now is not the time to be distracted by the convenient truth of plastic pollution, as the relatively minor threats it poses are dwarfed by the global systemic threats of climate change.
British professors in Marine Policy magazine in 2019.
Actors in the war against plastics
Those who will increase efforts in the war on plastics are concerned that companies and governments will use the issue to distract from the climate emergency.
Meanwhile, policymakers seem not to see the bigger picture. The word plastic does not appear in the text of the 2015 Paris Agreement or in the most recent Glasgow Climate Pact. United Nations-sponsored talks, soon to be held in Nairobi, will draft a global plastics treaty that appears to avoid including climate change in the picture.
Can the gaze of groups focused on plastic waste, toxicity, marine pollution, climate change, public health, water pollution, environmental justice, beach cleanups and other issues come together? It will not be easy.
plastic war actors
It may not be necessary. Given the increasing attention paid to zero emissions commitments and Scope 3 supply chain responsibility, as well as growing investor concerns about risks associated with climate change, waste disposal, toxicity and other ESG issues , all of this could change in the blink of an eye.
Companies may be forced to take stock – and take responsibility – for the upstream and downstream climate impacts of the materials they source. This, in turn, could lead to legislation, litigation, consumer boycotts and much more, a scenario where brands will once again be affected.