With 1.8 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases per year, plastic has a bigger effect on climate change every year than all aviation and shipping

3 comments

1. This article puts the “solution” on individual lifestyle changes. Such nonsense. The change has to be systemic and come from new laws not hoping people consume less plastic.

2. So we need drastic and immediate regulations to rapidly bring this down to only essential levels.

   I remember reading how the single largest origin for plastic waste is Coca Cola products. We should make that…. No longer a thing….

3. Numbers don’t look right. I suspect that is the whole LCA of the plastic, including incinerating and not actually thinking about replacing the fossil based plastic with something else.

   My guess is that if the plastic isn’t burned or recycled then displacing the petroleum based materials for nature based ones would create more emissions. Of course, the replacements for plastic are likely to be less durable and heavy, and perhaps increase transportation emissions (30%) in the article.

   Getting rid of plastic is a good idea. However, It will cause an increase in GHGs and put more pressure land use. Prices will go up for cars etc. I’m good with that personally, but humans like their stuff.

   Cue downvotes