Growing environmental footprint of plastics driven by coal combustion

• Cabernard, L. et al., Nature Sustainability • Plastics & Pollution

Growing environmental footprint of plastics driven by coal combustion
Chris LeBoutillier on Unsplash

We show that the carbon and particulate-matter-related health footprint of plastics has doubled since 1995, due mainly to growth in plastics production in coal-based economies. Coal-based emissions have quadrupled since 1995, causing almost half of the plastics-related carbon and particulate-matter-related health footprint in 2015. Plastics-related carbon footprints of China’s transportation, Indonesia’s electronics industry and India’s construction sector have increased more than 50-fold since 1995.

Read the full study here

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