The embodied carbon of plastics.

A recent paper by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory entitled “Climate Impact of Primary Plastic Production”, takes a close look at the GHG emissions of 9 major fossil-based plastics representing 80% of all plastics currently produced, and determines that 5.3% of annual global CO2equivalent carbon (global total = 42.3 Gt) is from the production of plastics. Remember that embodied carbon from building construction emits 10-11% of annual global carbon and up to 15% when infrastructure in included.

Plastics are extremely difficult to recycle, may last for thousands of years in the landfills where most plastics end up, and European researchers recently published a database of more than 16,000 chemicals plastics can contain, many of which have been linked to cancer risks and damage to the human immune system.

All construction projects contain plastics, particularly in MEP, Interiors, and Furnishings, Fixtures, and Equipment, and it makes one wonder what the actual contribution of plastics in the embodied carbon of buildings is. This article in the “Climate Forward” newsletter of the New York Times summarizes the findings of the LBNL paper.

Two facts of particular interest in the article are that the production of plastics are predicted to have an annual growth rate of at least 2.5%, (greater than the growth rate of buildings at 1.75%), and spearheading the effort to curb the use of plastics are African nations that have blazed a trail in phasing out single-use plastics, which make up the bulk of plastic pollution. Almost three dozen countries on the African continent have banned various forms of single-use plastics and packaging.