Plastics and the environment
Plastic has a number of beneficial uses in our lives—positively contributing to the world when used responsibly. However, there is an environmental tradeoff when it comes to any sustainability topic, so it’s important to understand the waste management problem to effectively help our environment.
Take a minute to reflect on your morning. You probably turned off your alarm, rolled out of bed, brushed your teeth, showered, and grabbed a yogurt from the fridge—all in the span of twenty minutes. From the moment you woke up, you most likely interacted with at least eight plastic products and witnessed their benefits firsthand.
Plastic is an integral part of your everyday life…and for good reason! It’s a revolutionary material due to being low-cost, lightweight, durable, and customizable.
However, there are downsides of plastic if it’s used and disposed of irresponsibly such as ocean pollution, impacts to wildlife, and water contamination.
While Shell Polymers is working to address these important considerations such as designing for recyclability, the positive effects have not received enough attention. Whether you’re a plastic converter or brand owner, we aim to equip you with information on the benefits of plastic and how sustainability initiatives could fail without it.
Read on to learn more about the impact of plastic in everyday life.
Lowering GHG emissions one plastic product at a time
Let’s explore how plastic can make a positive impact by looking at a July 2022 McKinsey & Company report.
The global management consulting firm studied plastic greenhouse gas emissions in the United States throughout 2020, examining 14 common use cases (e.g., beverage bottles, insulation, textiles, etc.) in five sectors representing around 90 percent of global plastic volume.
The results? They found that plastics offer a lower total GHG emissions contribution compared to alternatives in a whopping 13 out of the 14 cases—with GHG emissions savings ranging from 10 to 90 percent.
Associated UN Sustainable Development Goals
Takeaways:
- Plastics have reduced associated greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions compared to most alternatives for a variety of applications.
- Many sustainability initiatives such as reducing transportation emissions are not as feasible without plastics.
- There is an environmental dichotomy for plastics and Shell Polymers can help tip the scales toward positive impact.
The life-changing impact of plastic
Terms such as “carbon” or “emissions” might immediately come to mind when you think sustainability, and while those are big components of operating sustainably, there is so much more to it than that.
Sustainability is all about balancing environmental, social, and economic priorities to effectively meet our present and future generation’s needs. Sustainable initiatives aim to create harmony between humanity and nature without depleting or damaging essential resources such as our oceans or the air we breathe.
For instance, take food packaging. That plastic prevents spoilage and extends shelf life—ensuring that the food you eat survives the journey from production to consumption 1. If not packaged properly, there could be environmental damage from broken goods and spoiled food. Additionally, because plastic packaging reduces food waste, there could be less energy 2 and water 3 required for agriculture as less food would need to be produced.
How about the house you live in? There’s a number of ways plastic is used throughout your home’s construction from pipes to flooring, but plastic’s use in insulation deserves a mention. By helping to regulate your home’s temperature, plastic spray polyurethane foam (PCF) can help you maintain an energy-efficient 4 and cost-effective household which can reduce energy-related emissions.
We’ve covered how plastic plays a role in your everyday life—but it can also help save lives! Specifically, plastic can be found in many life-saving products including seatbelts, airbags, IVs, pacemakers, hospital gowns and other types of medical equipment and devices.
There simply wouldn’t be as many breakthroughs in modern medicine without lightweight and durable plastic. Thanks to 3-D printers, medical institutions can manufacture custom prosthetics and address other critical needs on-demand.
The environmental dichotomy of plastic
Plastics can be a lower-carbon alternative, but we can further reduce GHG emissions through other lower-carbon products and improved circularity of the global plastics markets. This involves reducing, reusing, and recycling plastics through mechanical and chemical technologies to mitigate plastic pollution.
Shell’s commitment to the environment can be seen further through the company-wide target to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050. This supports the ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement (e.g., limit the rise in global average temperature this century to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels).
Additionally, larger Shell is reducing the carbon intensity of the energy products sold by 6-8% by 2023, 9-12% by 2024, 9-13% by 2025, 20% by 2030, 45% by 2035 and 100% by 2050. Shell is also offering more lower-carbon energy options like solar and wind power and utilizing technology to safely capture and store carbon emissions. Through this carbon capture, Shell is reducing the amount of carbon entering the atmosphere from Shell facilities as well as customer facilities.
Reducing transportation emissions is also a key sustainability opportunity. With the advancement and adoption of electric vehicles and other low-carbon vehicles, society may see a decrease in associated emissions. Also, plastics in vehicles actually help reduce vehicle weight and therefore also decrease associated GHG emissions. With all of this in mind, larger Shell is providing lower-carbon energy for charging electric vehicles.
Of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the issue of plastic waste and the resulting pollution. It’s a very real problem in our society—with 70-80% of the plastic pollution in the ocean coming from land-based sources and 20-30% coming from marine sources such as fishing nets and lines. 5
Despite the benefits of plastic, the polyethylene industry must improve its environmental performance and further promote recycling to support the circular economy. At Shell Polymers, we support policies that promote material production and product design for enhanced reuse and recyclability, while considering the life cycle impacts of plastics and alternative materials.
As such, we encourage the use of recycled content in new products to improve efficiency, promote the inclusion of recycled plastics, encourage circularity and reduce waste.
The Shell Polymers solution
At a high level, plastic’s strength and lightweight nature can play a crucial role in reducing GHG emissions, along with enhancing energy efficiency and preventing food waste. However (and not surprisingly), anything GHG-related is never that cut and dry.
While we hope to have provided some insight, we recognize that GHG emissions is a complex topic that calls for action.
That’s why we at Shell Polymers are constantly looking for new recycling solutions and innovating in the sustainability realm to ensure that the overarching climate impact of plastics is a positive one.
Additionally, we have adopted sustainable measures in our Pennsylvania plant such as incorporating large amounts of recycled plastic into the asphalt of the road around the plant and using recycled pipe for our underground piping. Learn more about our sustainable site design here.
As a responsible polyethylene supplier, our goal at Shell Polymers is to improve environmental performance, increase recycling rates, and prevent environmental leakage.
