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Plastic and the climate: two sides of the same coin
11 March 2021
On Sunday 14 March at 14:00, people in the Netherlands will raise their voices about the climate. Never before has such a wide coalition of citizens and organisations called on the next Cabinet to take more action on climate change. The new Government must make sure that polluting companies comply with the Paris Climate Agreement.
Demonstrations will be held in more than 30 places in the country and people can also have their voices heard from their homes. See klimaatmars2021 to learn what it is all about and how to join in.
Plastic Soup Foundation is also joining. Why? What is the relationship between plastic and climate change?
CLOTHING
One important link between the two is the clothing industry. Plastic fibres are made of fossil fuels and, without our even knowing it, we are all addicted to synthetic clothing. The recently published Fossil Fashion: The Hidden Reliance of Fashion on Fossil Fuels report, on which Plastic Soup Foundation worked, estimates that by 2030, almost three quarters of all fibres produced worldwide will be synthetic, primarily polyester, fibres.
The fast fashion industry plays a large role in climate change. It produces several new collections a year and its clothes are only worn a few times and are then discarded. This is not only creating a huge mountain of waste, but every time the clothes are washed, they release millions of plastic fibres. Once discarded, an item of clothing cannot be recycled and turned into a new item of clothing of the same quality.
SINGLE-USE PLASTIC
Just like synthetic clothing, 99% of the plastic in the world is made of fossil fuels. The remaining 1% is bio-based.
Did you know that it takes a Quarter of a Litre of oil to produce just one, one litre plastic bottle?
The plastic production industry consumes an incredible amount of fossil fuels. Estimates put figures of 8% to 10% of the world’s total oil production go into making plastics. Not included in these figures are the associated energy that is needed for transporting filled bottles from factories to supermarkets, keeping drinks chilled in shops and offices and so on. About 40% of all plastic is disposable plastic that is used just once. Reducing the plastic stream would be a huge gain for the climate.
SHALE GAS
Plastic is also produced from a by-product of shale gas. The continuous extraction of shale gas in countries like the United States and Argentina undermine all attempts to fight climate change. And ‘Big Oil’, the conglomerate of oil multinationals, including Shell, continues to invest hugely in shale gas and in plastic.
A direct consequence is that the market is flooded with cheap unnecessary plastic, while we should all be reducing the amount of plastic because of the plastic soup. Shell, very shrewdly, omits greenhouse gases generated by plastic from its CO2 accounting system on the grounds that it ‘is not an energy product’.
PLASTICS INDUSTRY BLOCKS CLIMATE GOALS
We have not even looked at the emissions associated with the production and incineration of plastic. The part plastic plays in the emission of greenhouse gases and climate change is a relatively little known problem. The Plastic & Climate. The Hidden Costs of a Plastic Planet report gives calculations of greenhouse gases for all phases of the plastic chain, from raw material extraction and processing through to waste processing.
The maximum amount of CO2 that may be emitted worldwide to reach the climate goals is determined in the carbon budget. The report states that up to 2050, the plastics industry is accountable for at least 10% to 13% of this limited budget.
The report concludes that the plastics industry is a serious threat to reaching the climate goals.
APPEAL TO POLITICIANS
The next Cabinet will have to put a lot more effort into reaching the climate agreements. It can do this by:
- ensuring that the textile and clothing industry is subject to the Paris Climate Agreement and the European Green Deal goals;
- addressing Big Oil and plastic producers on their share in climate change and pollution;
- recognising the rapid increase in shale gas production and the growing plastic soup as forms of ecocide, and recognising ecocide as an international crime;
- encouraging banks and insurers to discourage shale gas prospection and extraction, and discourage or cease financing the production of plastics in general and single-use plastics in particular.
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