Everyone knows that plastic pollutes our environment. But it’s less obvious why plastic would create a lot of emissions. Today, we break down why plastic use is a climate change issue.
Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.
Whether you bring reusable bags to the grocery store or use a metal water bottle, it seems like everyone is moving away from plastic these days. But is there more to it than just keeping this stuff out of the ocean? Meg Talikoff and Christine Okulo are here to explain. Hi guys!
Meg Talikoff: Hey!
Christine Okulo: Hi Megan!
Megan Hall: So, I think a lot of people are using less plastic because they know it’s not great for our bodies, or because they’ve seen videos of turtles with straws up their noses.
Meg Talikoff: That’s right, and those are great reasons to move away from plastic, especially single-use plastics.
Christine Okulo: But today we wanted to talk about the fact that plastics are also responsible for a lot of greenhouse gas emissions.
Megan Hall: Really! Define a lot.
Meg Talikoff: We asked that question to Taylor Uekert, a chemist at the National Renewable Energy Lab who specializes in plastic recycling.
Christine: She says the plastics that Americans use every day are responsible for about 100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year.
Taylor Uekert: To put that into context, that’s around the same scale as all the commercial flights in the US. So it’s about 2% of all the greenhouse gasses the US is emitting.
Meg Talikoff: That’s a lot. And our plastic use is only increasing.
Christine: Plastic production quadrupled in the last 40 years and it’s expected to double or triple again by 2050.
Megan Hall: Okay, so that’s a big deal. But why? What makes plastic such a big source of emissions?
Megan Hall: There are basically three steps to consider.
Christine: First is converting fossil fuels into the material that’s used to make plastics.
Megan Hall: Tell me more about this process.
Meg Talikoff: It’s complicated. But basically, when you create plastic’s building blocks, that chemical reaction also produces a bunch of different byproducts. And unfortunately for us,
Taylor Uekert: You’re going to also end up emitting carbon dioxide during that processing step.
Christine: Second, You can’t have fossil fuels to make those plastics without some emissions, because the way you take them out of the earth is not perfectly efficient. It always results in some greenhouse gasses escaping into the atmosphere.
Meg Talikoff: And third, making the plastic requires a lot of energy, which also produces emissions.
Megan Hall: Is there any way to make plastic without fossil fuels?
Christine: Great question! It’s definitely possible. People are doing a lot of research these days about how to make plastic from renewable materials like corn or soybeans.
Meg Talikoff: You’ve probably seen some plastic containers that say “made from plants.” Those containers use plant oils instead of fossil oil to make the plastic.
Megan Hall: Okay – so we use fossil fuels as the building blocks for plastic and we also rely on fossil fuels for energy to make plastic, But if we used plant oil and solar power, would that take care of the problem?
Christine Okulo: It would help a lot! Renewable energy alone could reduce emissions by 50%, and using plant-based oils and renewables would reduce emissions by about 75%.
Meg Talikoff: But for right now, very few of those things are happening.
Megan Hall: So in the meantime, should we be trying to completely get rid of plastic if we want to seriously reduce our greenhouse gas emissions?
Meg Talikoff: Well, not exactly. Taylor says that plastic has a few really convenient features that actually end up reducing emissions in other industries.
Taylor Uekert: Plastic can help with light-weighting vehicles, which will make them more fuel-efficient. Using plastic packaging around some of your food products is going to increase the shelf life of those food products, which means you’re going to have less food waste.
Megan Hall: So what’s the takeaway? Do we need to be moving away from plastics or are they actually helping us meet our climate goals?
Christine Okulo: Both are kind of true. Plastics are incredibly light, strong and useful.
Meg Talikoff: And there are some cases where plastics will prevent more greenhouse gasses than they generate.
Christine Okulo: But single-use plastics are a big problem, because of the emissions they create and the trouble they cause when they end up in places like the ocean.
Meg Talikoff: So, in your daily life, try to cut back.
Megan Hall: Thanks guys! That’s it for today. You can find more information, or ask a question about the way your choices affect our planet, at askpossibly.org. You can also subscribe to Possibly wherever you get your podcasts or follow us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn or X at “askpossibly.” Possibly is a co-production of Brown University’s Institute for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, and the Public’s Radio.
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