Even as the world suffers a plastics glut, petrochemical companies are prolonging the 'plasticene era.' The Gulf Coast petrochemical industry, one of the most polluting industry complexes on Earth, has expanded in response to low natural gas prices. Source: Roschetzky Photography via Shutterstock The Gulf Coast petrochemical industry has big expansion plans for plastics production that threaten to undermine corporate efforts to reduce plastics use and waste as well as the international negotiations for the Global Global Plastics Treaty that will continue this month in Ottawa. The looming plastics boom raises questions for sustainability professionals navigating plastics reduction targets about the efficacy of their own efforts as well as how they can respond to help end the world's "plasticene era." Ten new plastics production plants and 17 expansion projects are planned over the next five years at Gulf Coast refineries, according to a new report by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP). The proposed plants will emit up to 35.5 million tons of greenhouse gases annually along with large quantities of harmful air pollutants, further burdening communities already suffering from environmental and social injustices, authors say. "The cumulative impact of the emissions [from these plants] is shocking, but what's worse is that the financial markets are telling us … we may not even need a lot of these plants," said Tom Sanzillo, director of financial analysis at the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis and a former deputy comptroller for New York State. Many new facilities will produce plastic resins for making food and beverage packaging such as water bottles and plastic bags, such as polyethylene and polypropylene. In Jefferson County, Texas, three oil majors are planning four large "cracker" plants to produce ethylene and propylene, base ingredients for plastic polymers. The boom is happening... |