Relation to Climate Change

Originating from crude oil and natural gas, both substantial carbon emitting fossil fuels, plastics from cradle to grave have severe implications on our global warming crisis. It is reported that by 2050, 20% of our annual oil consumption rates will be from the production of plastics. From the land degradation and deforestation itself, to implement pipelines and industries for plastics, 1.686 billion metric tons of CO2 are released, CIEL says. EPA reports demonstrate that for every ounce of polyethylene produced, one ounce of carbon dioxide is emitted, releasing between 100 to 500 million tons of CO2 just from our consumption of plastic alone. The process of distilling and converting petroleum and natural gas products into readily available plastic pellets for manufacturing use, requires hundreds of chemicals and an exorbitant amount of steam and heat energy, to produce the byproducts propylene and ethylene, according to the EPA. The refining and transportation stages depletes additional energy sources, and combustion, recycling and composting releases 1.8 billion metric tons of CO2.