From Oil Use to Ocean Pollution: Five Facts About the Plastics Industry
The world of plastics is in drastic need of reform. This is the conclusion of a newreport released at Davos by the World Economics Forum, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and consultancy firm McKinsey. Here are five of its most startling facts:
The plastics industry uses as much oil as the aviation sector
Plastic waste is a resource issue as much as an environmental one. “At the moment the plastics industry takes up roughly 8% of oil production, and [given projected growth in consumption] it’s forecast to rise to 20% by 2050,” explains Joss Blériot, executive lead for editorial and policy at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. “That means we end up with an explosion of the weight of plastic within the system and if it doesn’t get captured it’s a massive economic loss.”
Geof Wilson