Single-use plastic’s most evident environmental impact is the apparent physical pollution and subsequent consequences, such as the animals dying from ingesting the material. However, a new study quantifies the impact of plastic on climate change.
Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory aimed to relate the contribution of plastic production to the goal of keeping global temperature rises under 1.5°C by 2050. Scientists looked at the nine most commonly used plastics—low-density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene (PS), styrene acrylonitrile (SAN) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), and polyethylene (PU). Collectively, these types of plastic account for 80% of production.
The study estimates that the production of plastic, from fossil fuel extraction to final shaping, accounts for approximately 2.24 gigatons of CO2, or 5.3% of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. By comparison, the global aviation sector amounted to 0.6 gigatons of CO2.
