Yuki Kabe, Technical Advocacy Specialist at Braskem, signals an incorrect judgement of ‘biobased’ or green plastics in lifecycle analyses. As a chemical engineer, he has more than 20 years of experience in sustainability and life cycle policy. According to him, green plastics’ potential is being insufficiently utilized.
Policy rules are being applied unevenly, and there is a lack of appreciation of bioplastics’ contribution to sustainability. Although they offer opportunities and have sustainable properties, bioplastics still struggle to compete with ‘ordinary’ plastics. This is mainly the result of a wrong image, that needs to be corrected.
Carbon accounting
Many green plastics are chemically identical to their fossil counterparts; and that makes one wonder why they are being treated differently. Even though the similarity offers practical advantages. We can use the same machines; that saves us investments and facilitates the transfer to these materials. Moreover, green plastics fit perfectly in the circular economy. They can be collected, recycled and reused, just like traditional plastics. But the green plastics’ advantages exist primarily from the environmental viewpoint. Here, green plastics are very useful. They reduce out dependence on fossil fuels; and they store carbon that has been absorbed from the atmosphere by plants. In doing so, they (temporarily) reduce CO2 concentrations on the atmosphere. If green plastics are being recycled, that carbon-storing period will even be prolonged. But present methods of carbon accounting do not take this into consideration.
In actual practice, green plastics even have a disadvantage, when it comes to their judgment in life cycle analyses. These operate along protocols. And in the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) by the EU, emissions of green plastics are counted from the very start. On the one hand, this is understandable, as the carbon will be released sooner or later – be it in a few decades or in a century. But then, they should be taken into account also with fossil plastics, and that’s not the case. There, they only count in the end phase – as they have been oxidised. This implies that fossil plastics’ emissions count less, if these are being recycles or end up in landfills. This difference creates an uneven playing field.
Unclear policy
It is strange that the EU doesn’t have goals for green materials derived from sustainable resources; but does have ambitious goals for sustainable energy (of which biofuels are part). This results in a rift in policy. Because of accounting rules, costs of resources for green materials rise. That causes a more uneven playing field for them. But the odd thing is that according to the priority principle for biomass, production of materials should have priority over energy production. In order to maximise resources’ efficiency. But this is not being reflected in present policy rules.
Another obstacle is that there are no binding sustainability rules for biomass. At present, there is just a non-binding policy framework; as a result, companies have to follow inconsistent rules. But there are sustainability rules for biobased fuels already; and the EU could take these as a starting point.
Resistance
In sum, the plastics industry is confronted with more obstacles than support. Changing rules put the responsibility with companies; these have to prove that their initiatives work in actual practice, often at a high cost. This reduces their competitiveness vis-à-vis fossil companies; those have less rules to comply to. In order to reap green plastics’ potential, we need a policy change. Governments should develop clear and scientifically motivated sustainability rules; technologically neutral and applicable throughout the EU. These criteria should be founded in existing certification systems. The potential of carbon storage of green plastics should be reflected in life cycle analyses.
By creating an even playing field, policy makers will be able to stimulate green plastics’ growth; and they can contribute to a more sustainable economy with less emissions.
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Closing the plastic loop
Curbing plastics production
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