Eliminating all plastics would raise greenhouse gas emissions?
This sounds counter-intuitive until you think through the alternatives to some of our economy’s needed plastics. According to Professor David Bucknall from Heriot-Watt University, there are no easy answers to global plastic pollution.
“…the academics from Heriot-Watt University said replacing plastics with other packaging such as glass or metal could double global energy consumption.
“In many cases, there is no credible alternative to using a plastic so we need to move towards a ‘circular economy’ for plastics, rather than the largely ‘make-use-dispose’ model we currently adopt.
“This is the challenge that we face going forwards. Obviously we want to remove the plastics from the oceans, but what do you replace the plastics that we rely on now with?”
Read the source article on BBC’s website.
