Plastic Production
Plastic is inexpensive and durable and that’s part of the problem. We are using huge amounts of it and it is very slow to degrade.
The plastic industry is the second largest and fastest growing source of industrial greenhouse gas emissions. 99% of the constituent ingredients of plastics are derived from fossil fuels. Cheap shale gas is burnt at 1000 degrees during production of plastic, releasing carbon dioxide.
The manufacturing processes require huge amounts of energy. The Grangemouth plastic plant, which produces approximately a third of the UK’s plastic, uses the same amount of electricity as three cities.
If plastic production continues to grow at the same rate it will account for 15% of all greenhouse emissions by 2050.